A prairie is a large area of flat, grassy land in North America. Prairies have very few trees.
prairie in British English
(ˈprɛərɪ)
noun
(often plural)
a treeless grassy plain of the central US and S Canada
Compare pampas, steppe, savanna
Word origin
C18: from French, from Old French praierie, from Latin prātum meadow
prairie in American English
(ˈprɛri)
US
noun
a large area of level or slightly rolling grasslands, esp. one in the Mississippi Valley
Word origin
Fr < OFr praerie < pré, meadow (< L pratum, prob. < IE base *prā-, to bend > MIr rāith, fortification, Welsh bedd-rod, grave) + -erie, -ery
Examples of 'prairie' in a sentence
prairie
The prairie dogs then passed the disease to their human buyers.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
I don't suppose prairie dogs worry much about growing old.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
No packing or checking out - we just got in and drove off, leaving behind us a final liquid lunch for our obese prairie dog.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Second, testing has shown that male prairie voles under stress are more likely to bond with their partners, whereas the opposite is true for female voles.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In other languages
prairie
British English: prairie NOUN
A prairie is a large area of flat, grassy land. Prairies have very few trees.
American English: prairie
Brazilian Portuguese: pradaria
Chinese: 北美大草原
European Spanish: pampa
French: prairie
German: Steppe
Italian: prateria
Japanese: 大草原
Korean: 대초원
European Portuguese: pradaria
Latin American Spanish: pradera
All related terms of 'prairie'
prairie dog
A prairie dog is a type of small furry animal that lives underground in the prairies of North America.
Grand Prairie
city in NE Tex.: suburb of Dallas: pop. 127,000
prairie soil
a soil type occurring in temperate areas formerly under prairie grasses and characterized by a black A horizon , rich in plant foods
Prairie State
→ the Prairie State
prairie wolf
→ coyote
prairie chicken
either of two mottled brown-and-white grouse , Tympanuchus cupido or T . pallidicinctus, of North America
prairie crocus
a spring flower of the buttercup family
prairie-dogging
(in an open-plan office) the practice of looking over the top of one's partition in order to discover the source of or reason for a commotion
prairie marmot
→ another name for prairie dog
prairie oyster
a drink consisting of raw unbeaten egg , vinegar or Worcester sauce ( Worcester oyster ), salt, and pepper : a supposed cure for a hangover
prairie turnip
→ breadroot
prairie cocktail
a drink consisting of raw unbeaten egg, vinegar or Worcester sauce ( Worcester oyster ), salt, and pepper : a supposed cure for a hangover
Prairie Provinces
the Canadian provinces of Manitoba , Saskatchewan , and Alberta , which lie in the N Great Plains region of North America: the chief wheat and petroleum producing area of Canada
prairie schooner
a horse-drawn covered wagon similar to but smaller than a Conestoga wagon, used in the 19th century to cross the prairies of North America
the Prairie State
a nickname for the state of Illinois
short-eared owl
a medium-sized owl ; Asio flammeus
queen of the prairie
a perennial North American meadowsweet ( Filipendula rubra ), having small, peach-colored flowers
wishtonwish
any of several gregarious sciurine rodents of the genus Cynomys, such as C. ludovicianus, that live in large complex burrows in the prairies of North America
coyote
A coyote is a small wolf which lives in the plains of North America.
breadroot
a leguminous plant, Psoralea esculenta , of central North America , having an edible starchy root
Gros Ventre
a member of a western group of the Arapaho, now living in Montana