Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An extensive area of flat or rolling, predominantly treeless grassland, especially the large tract or plain of central North America.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A meadow; level grassy land: a word frequently used by Hennepin and other French writers in describing the country adjacent to the Mississippi river, and now in common use, designating the level or slightly undulating treeless areas which cover a large part of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and other States further south. The prairies are never by the inhabitants of the prairie regions called
plains , as are the treeless regions further west. They are characterized by a highly fertile soil, often of great thickness, and they often occur where the rainfall is even considerably larger than on parts of the adjacent forest-covered regions. The cause of the absence of trees upon them cannot, therefore, be deficiency of moisture; in all probability it is the physical character of the soil, and especially its extreme flneness, which renders it more suitable for the growth of the grasses than for that of arboreal vegetation. In the extreme northwestern region of the United States, especially in Montana, certain level treeless areas surrounded by the mountains are now by some calledprairies : some of these had been previously denominated holes. Further south in the Rocky Mountains they are known as parks, or sometimes as basins. Seehole , 6, and plain. - n. Any small open space in a forest. See the extract.
Wiktionary
- n. an extensive area of relatively flat grassland with few, if any, trees, especially in North America
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An extensive tract of level or rolling land, destitute of trees, covered with coarse grass, and usually characterized by a deep, fertile soil. They abound throughout the Mississippi valley, between the Alleghanies and the Rocky mountains.
- n. A meadow or tract of grass; especially, a so called natural meadow.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a treeless grassy plain
Etymologies
- From French prairie. (Wiktionary)
- French, from Old French praierie, from Vulgar Latin *prātāria, from Latin prāta, meadow. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The term prairie is a misnomer in this case; instead we found a beautiful fruitful valley lying between two low ranges of hills, interspersed with groves of trees and picturesque lakes, and watered by a river winding gracefully through its whole length.”
“Even in the towns that survive and in some cases flourish, the prairie is a presence just beyond main street or the railroad tracks or the strip malls.”
“In a leadership made up mostly of veteran senators from the South, 47-year-old Thune brings youth and what he calls the prairie sensibilities he learned growing up in small town South Dakota.”
“This land, you will observe, Mr. Campbell, is peculiarly good, having some few acres of what we call prairie, or natural meadow.”
“This land, you will observe, Mr Campbell, is peculiarly good, having some few acres of what we call prairie, or natural meadow.”
“When Frémont and his men crossed the continent to California, in 1842, they ate the flesh of that species of marmot which we know as the prairie-dog.”
First Across the Continent; The Story of The Exploring Expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804-5-6
“* High style on a plain prairie: Why a Kansas-born luxury furniture designer set up his manufacturing shop in his home state, far from the cities where his wares sell.”
“Indeed, the Brown women look nothing like the women in prairie dresses associated with the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints church formerly run by Warren Jeffs, who was convicted of statutory rape for arranging the wedding of a 14-year-old girl to an older man.”
The Huffington Post: 'Sister Wives' Features A Lot Of Wives But Little Faith
“But we plowed it under (I myself have plowed a few acres of virgin prairie) and grow food that feeds the 6 billion inhabitants of the earth today.”
Democrats declare war on West Virginia. Again. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
“Some people feel the virgin prairie was beautiful, and it is.”
Democrats declare war on West Virginia. Again. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘prairie’.
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North American Terms
terms exclusive to two or more of Canada, US, Mexico; but not exclusively to just Canada, US or Mexico, as that would make it a Canadianism, Mexicanism, or Americanism
Aboriginal words...Rockies, Ticketmaster, prairie, NAFTA, NFL, Skookum, Sasquatch, Bigfoot, grizzly, NHL, NBA, Chinook and 9 more...
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EN - eesily missspellable wirds
accessible, accommodate, achievement, acquaintance, address, advertisement, alleged, athletics, attendance, auxiliary, believe, challenge and 118 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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Public List: Free Association
Read the top word on the list and add a word that you associate with it. The association may be semantic, etymological, structural, literary, personal, etc.
Rules:
1. In t...mounch, mensch, trench, war, harmony, guitar, cigar, bubblegum, baseball cards, shortstop, bear, chained and 72 more...
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kalidas's Words
crepuscular, mellifluous, ephemeral, diaphanous, zeitgeist, geisterfahrer, infinite, eternal, idyllic, azure, reminiscent, oblivion and 521 more...
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If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-...
Words that have been used as baby names, including virtue names, nature names, place names, etc.
The title is an actual name given to a Puritan boy in the 17th century.faith, hope, grace, charity, chastity, prudence, patience, temperance, river, phoenix, stone, violet and 455 more...
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the earth
Planetary chaos: terrain, landscape and geology excluding rocks. (See "the geologist" list for the latter.)
butte, karst, caldera, mesa, laccolith, cwm, crater, alp, precipice, sierra, badlands, prairie and 122 more...
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colleen's words ii
sibilant, sundry, spindle, distaff, device, mortar, pestle, scythe, flail, thresh, frown, elementary and 495 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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the omnibus
preponderance, idioglossia, acumen, heteronym, flux, anacoluthon, metonymy, impetus, constellation, exegesis, revelatory, cloistered and 877 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (P)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
pagan, page, pageant, pageboy, pagoda, paisley, paladin, palfrey, paling, pampas grass, pan, panoply and 194 more...
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frequent toefl
Words that I do not know or unsure for toefl
appurtenances, aptitude, arbitrary, arboretum, argot, arrears, avocation, avuncular, badger, bait, warden, bane and 428 more...
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Bird Wirds: Adjectives
Adjectives used in actual (non-taxonomic) bird names, past and present.
roseate, glossy, whooping, neotropic, pelagic, ferruginous, crested, whiskered, marbled, tufted, horned, eared and 818 more...
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Moss
Essentials
antiquaroma, amber, autumn, sloe, hotlands, flaxen, jinx, emerald, cerulean, prairie, moor, smoky and 8 more...
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Biomes
From 9th grade bio!
tundra, taiga, forest, coniferous, broadleaf, savannah, steppe, prairie, heath, temperate, woodland, scrubland and 7 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for prairie.

treeseed Lots of stotting and pronking going on out on the prairie. Be there or be square. See free-associate. Feb 12, 2008