prairie
Americannoun
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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.
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a tract of grassland; meadow.
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(in Florida) a low, sandy tract of grassland often covered with water.
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Southern U.S. wet grassland; marsh.
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(initial capital letter) a steam locomotive having a two-wheeled front truck, six driving wheels, and a two-wheeled rear truck.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prairie
1675–85; < French: meadow < Vulgar Latin *prātāria, equivalent to Latin prāt ( um ) meadow + -āria, feminine of -ārius -ary
Explanation
A prairie is a plain of grassy land without many trees. If you're raising cattle, find some prairie land to let them roam around on. Prairie means grassland, and comes from the French word for "meadow." While we might describe a single meadow, we usually use prairie to describe a type of countryside. In the United States, the natural state of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains is prairie, which is why there's so much farming there.
Vocabulary lists containing prairie
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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The United States
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
These days, new signs sit in the prairie grass: “SAY NO TO THE PRISON! Keep the country, country.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026
Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT lit this prairie fire in November 2022, the semiconductor ETF is up around 190%.
From Barron's • Feb. 19, 2026
But when you spend 12 hours seeing nothing but prairie with not a person, car or structure in sight, you realize what an amazing country we all live in.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 3, 2026
I’m usually a loyalist to the cornmeal-swirled muffin — I love that little grainy grit, the way it reins in lush summer fruit with a bit of prairie stoicism.
From Salon • Dec. 16, 2025
Crackling prairie noises carried softly on the air.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
