tundra

[tuhn-druh, toon-]

noun

1. one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America.

tundra

/ ˈtʌndrə /

noun

1. 1. a vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline of North America and Eurasia and having a permanently frozen subsoil

   2. ( as modifier )

      tundra vegetation

tundra

1. A cold, treeless, usually lowland area of far northern regions. The lower strata of soil of tundras are permanently frozen, but in summer the top layer of soil thaws and can support low-growing mosses, lichens, grasses, and small shrubs.

tundra

1. A land area near the North Pole where the soil is permanently frozen a few feet underground.

There are no trees on the tundra: the vegetation is primarily lichens and mosses.

Tundra is widespread in Lapland and in the far northern portions of Alaska, Canada, and the Soviet Union.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tundra¹

First recorded in 1840–45; from Russian túndra, from Sami tundar “hill”; compare Kola Sami tūndar “flat elevated area”; akin to Finnish tunturi “Arctic hill”

Word History and Origins

Origin of tundra¹

C19: from Russian, from Lapp tundar hill; related to Finnish tunturi treeless hill

Example Sentences

Mosses are well known for surviving in places that challenge most life, including the Himalayan peaks, the scorching deserts of Death Valley, the Antarctic tundra, and the cooling surfaces of active volcanoes.

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Our robot had arrived at the tundra, where cold temperatures and short growing seasons made it impossible for trees to take root.

Read more on Literature

Or perhaps you’ve spent the last many months in a coma, or cut off from the world in the frozen tundra of Antarctica.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

When Dave Pettifer was a Royal Marines commando, he fought in the jungle, endured the Arctic tundra and completed three tours of Afghanistan.

Read more on BBC

These extremely remote islands about 1,000 miles north of Antarctica consist mostly of barren tundra.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• expanse 
• prairie 
• steppe 
• wasteland