prairie

UK: /ˈprɛəri/ US: /ˈprɛri/ ,(prâr′ē)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

prai•rie /ˈprɛri/   n. [countable]

1. Geography a large, wide, level or slightly hilly area of land, mostly without trees, originally covered with grasses.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

prai•rie  (prâr′ē), n. 

1. Geography, Place Names an extensive, level or slightly undulating, mostly treeless tract of land in the Mississippi valley, characterized by a highly fertile soil and originally covered with coarse grasses, and merging into drier plateaus in the west. Cf. pampas, savanna, steppe. 
2. a tract of grassland;
   meadow.
3. (in Florida) a low, sandy tract of grassland often covered with water.
4. Dialect Terms [Southern U.S.] wet grassland;
   marsh.
5. (cap.) a steam locomotive having a two-wheeled front truck, six driving wheels, and a two-wheeled rear truck. See table under Whyte classification. 

• Vulgar Latin *prātāria, equivalent. to Latin prāt(um) meadow + -āria, feminine of -ārius -ary
• French: meadow
• 1675–85

prai′rie•like′, adj. 

Prairie, The, 

1. Literature a historical novel (1827) by James Fenimore Cooper. Cf. Leather-Stocking Tales. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

prairie / ˈprɛərɪ/ noun

1. (often plural) a treeless grassy plain of the central US and S Canada
   Compare pampas, steppe, savanna

Etymology: 18th Century: from French, from Old French praierie, from Latin prātum meadow