plateau
pronunciation
How to pronounce plateau in British English:
UK [ˈplætəʊ]
How to pronounce plateau in American English:
US [plæˈtoʊ]
-
- Noun:
- a relatively flat highland
Word Origin
- plateau (v.)
- 1952, from plateau (n.). Related: Plateaued; plateauing.
- plateau (n.)
- 1796, "elevated tract of relatively level land," from French plateau "table-land," from Old French platel (12c.) "flat piece of metal, wood, etc.," diminutive of plat "flat surface or thing," noun use of adjective plat "flat, stretched out" (12c.), perhaps from Vulgar Latin *plattus, from Greek platys "flat, wide, broad" (see plaice). Meaning "stage at which no progress is apparent" is attested from 1897, originally in psychology of learning. In reference to sexual stimulation from 1960.
Example
- 1. The himalayan region and the tibet plateau are strategically sensitive for the neighbours .
- 2. Parts of the qinghai-tibetan plateau and the hengduan mountains extend to its territory .
- 3. When we approached the high plateau of northern arizona it began to stir .
- 4. So far , efforts in congress to ban drilling on the plateau have failed .
- 5. Already scarce water resources will be diminished by the melting of glaciers on the tibetan plateau .