tundra
[tuhn-druh, too n-]
- one of the vast, nearly level, treeless plains of the arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America.
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Origin of tundra
1835–45; < Russian túndra < Lappish; compare Kola Lappish tūndar flat elevated area
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for tundra
Contemporary Examples
Hold the Dark is set in the Alaskan wilderness, in an isolated village at the lip of the tundra.
Compliments Are Nice, but Enough With the Cormac McCarthy ComparisonsWilliam Giraldi
October 21, 2014
The emissions of frozen CO2 and the tundra around the Arctic Ocean have already begun as it thaws.
Historical Examples
The snow was sifting over the tundra in icy gusts from the westward.
The Trail of a SourdoughMay Kellogg Sullivan
Would it be in the tall mountains, or on the tundra, or out on the roof of the sea?
Little White Fox and his Arctic FriendsRoy J. Snell
Now the snow had almost all gone from the mountains and the tundra.
Little White Fox and his Arctic FriendsRoy J. Snell
He likes to fight all the little folks of the tundra and sea because he is so big.
Little White Fox and his Arctic FriendsRoy J. Snell
He went wandering all over the tundra, looking for something to eat.
Little White Fox and his Arctic FriendsRoy J. Snell
tundra
- a vast treeless zone lying between the ice cap and the timberline of North America and Eurasia and having a permanently frozen subsoil
- (as modifier)tundra vegetation
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Word Origin
C19: from Russian, from Lapp tundar hill; related to Finnish tunturi treeless hill
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for tundra
n.
an Arctic steppe, 1841, from Russian tundra, from Lappish tundar "elevated wasteland."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
tundra
[tŭn′drə]
- 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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
tundra
A land area near the North Pole where the soil is permanently frozen a few feet underground.
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Note
There are no trees on the tundra: the vegetation is primarily lichens and mosses.
Note
Tundra is widespread in Lapland and in the far northern portions of Alaska, Canada, and the Soviet Union.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.