steppe
Americannoun
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steppes
plural
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an extensive plain, especially one without trees.
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The Steppes,
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Also called Great Steppe, Eurasian Steppe. the vast grasslands stretching from Asia to Eastern Europe, bounded on the north by European and Asian Russia and Siberia.
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noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of steppe
First recorded in 1665–75; from Russian step' or Ukrainian step; further origin uncertain
Explanation
A steppe is a large geographic area of flat land. A prairie is a kind of steppe. This type of land can be found in both cold and warm environments — from Siberia to Mexico. A steppe, pronounced like the word step, is not quite dry enough to be a desert but not fertile enough for trees to grow. Think of it as a semi-desert covered in grass and shrubs. The word steppe can also be used to describe the climate in areas that are too dry for a forest, but not quite dry enough to be desert.
Vocabulary lists containing steppe
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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Eastern Europe - Introductory
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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.
See Examples For:
At least 80% of their ancestry was now from the steppe.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2026
After watching thousands of antelope flow over the Tibetan steppe, Mr. Schaller wrote, “for a brief time I was free again.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
They also compared the bone of modern elephants and steppe mammoths to determine which animal it came from.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
While sand and the steppe have always been part of life in Central Asia, scientists warn climate change and other human activities are accelerating desertification and the degradation of the land.
From Barron's ● Dec. 18, 2025
Large areas of the former Fertile Crescent are now desert, semidesert, steppe, or heavily eroded or salinized terrain unsuited for agriculture.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
There were only arid steppes in sight when a small plane took off from an airport in southern Kazakhstan, embarking on a delicate mission: bringing rain for the scorched earth below.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Its east rolls through vast steppes, easily crossed by centuries of invading armies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
They then spent eight days on the road with a Chinese driver, travelling through mountains and lush steppes, which left Mr Sun in awe.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025
We know that some groups came to Europe from the East Asian and Pontic steppes, but to what extent, if at all, were steppe traditions maintained in Avar society if at all?
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
The transformation of warfare by horses began with their domestication around 4000 B.C., in the steppes north of the Black Sea.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
