mesa

IPA/ˈmeɪsə/
KK[mˈesə]IPA/ˈmeɪsə/

mesa — noun

  • mesasingular
  • mesasplural

1. a raised landform with a broad, level summit and sheer cliffs that drop away on

1.nounB2
Definition

a raised landform with a broad, level summit and sheer cliffs that drop away on all sides. Mesas form when wind and water wear away the softer rock around a harder top layer, and they are a familiar sight in dry parts of the American Southwest.

Example

The Navajo Nation in Arizona has some of the largest mesas in the region.

collocation: largest mesas + geographic region

From the top of the mesa, Owen watched the river wind through the valley below.

viewpoint: from atop a mesa

Common collocations
  • flat-topped mesa
  • steep-sided mesa
  • mesa top
  • mesa wall
  • desert mesa
Synonyms
  • butte

    smaller than a mesa, with a flat top that is narrower than the formation's height

  • plateau

    much larger than a mesa, often covering hundreds or thousands of square kilometers

  • tableland

    broader, less specific term for any high flat area; less common in everyday use

Antonyms
  • canyon

    a deep valley carved into the land, the opposite of a raised flat-topped landform

Usage Note

Frequently appears in descriptions of the American Southwest landscape. A mesa is smaller than a plateau but larger than a butte — the difference is mainly in the width of the flat top relative to its height.

Common Mistakes

We drove past a small mesa that was only as wide as a car.
We drove past a small butte that was only as wide as a car.
A very narrow flat-topped rock formation is called a butte, not a mesa.
The Colorado Plateau is a huge mesa covering several states.
The Colorado Plateau is a huge plateau covering several states.
A plateau covers a much larger area than a mesa.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three words describe elevated landforms with flat tops, but they differ mainly in size. A mesa (from Spanish 'table') is a medium-sized formation — wide enough that its flat top is broader than its height — common in the American Southwest. A butte is a narrower cousin: when erosion shrinks a mesa until its top is narrower than its height, geologists call it a butte. A plateau is vastly larger, often spanning entire regions (e.g., the Colorado Plateau covers 337,000 km²). 'Tableland' is a general descriptive term that can refer to any of the three, but is rarely used in technical geography. For everyday travel writing, 'mesa' and 'butte' are the most vivid choices: 'The jeep trail wound past sandstone buttes and wide mesas.'

butte ↗plateautableland ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • top of the mesa
  • foot of the mesa
  • mesa country

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinSpanishEnglish

Borrowed from Spanish 'mesa' (table), which comes from Latin 'mensa' (table). Spanish explorers in the 16th and 17th centuries applied the word to the flat-topped landforms they encountered in what is now the southwestern United States, because the formations reminded them of tables.

First known use

1840

1840, in the meaning defined above