steppe
Americannoun
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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. Also called 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
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.
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
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
In addition, they have identified several nearby burial grounds and short-term camps dating to the same period, which could offer further clues about social life, mobility, and belief systems in the ancient steppe.
From Science Daily • Dec. 5, 2025
"And we're involved in restoring tropical forest, dry deciduous forest, grassland, steppe - you name it - we're trying to help people put those plants back in place."
From BBC • Oct. 19, 2025
Khazaria, Babulya said, had been a great kingdom at its end, but its people had begun as steppe warriors.
From Anya and the Nightingale by Sofiya Pasternack
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.
