prairie

[prair-ee]

noun

1. an extensive, level or slightly undulating, mostly treeless tract of land in the Mississippi valley, characterized by a highly fertile soil and originally covered with coarse grasses, and merging into drier plateaus in the west.

2. a tract of grassland; meadow.

3. (in Florida) a low, sandy tract of grassland often covered with water.

4. Southern U.S.,  wet grassland; marsh.

5. (initial capital letter),  a steam locomotive having a two-wheeled front truck, six driving wheels, and a two-wheeled rear truck.

prairie

/ ˈprɛərɪ /

noun

1. (often plural) a treeless grassy plain of the central US and S Canada Compare pampas steppe savanna

prairie

1. An extensive area of flat or rolling grassland, especially the large plain of central North America.

Other Word Forms

• prairielike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of prairie¹

1675–85; < French: meadow < Vulgar Latin *prātāria, equivalent to Latin prāt ( um ) meadow + -āria, feminine of -ārius -ary

Word History and Origins

Origin of prairie¹

C18: from French, from Old French praierie, from Latin prātum meadow

Example Sentences

Nothing could have provided a more suitable host than an area of prairie where native grasses had been scythed away and the ground torn up by metal ploughshares and the hooves of a farmer’s horses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In late September, the firm invited executives from about 40 pensions, endowments and other institutions that invest in its funds to see the data center that will eventually rise from the Texas prairie.

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The dusty grass verges surrounding the prison are teeming with noisy prairie dogs scurrying into their burrows whenever disturbed by prison vehicles coming and going.

Read more on BBC

Or, as one teacher put it, “the canary on the prairie.”

Read more on Salon

A short walk away is Legacy Park, an oasis of coastal prairies, bluffs and native woodlands.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• meadow 
• pasture 
• plain 
• savanna 
• steppe