: an isolated relatively flat-topped natural elevation usually more extensive than a butte and less extensive than a plateau
also
: a broad terrace with an abrupt slope on one side : bench
Examples of mesa in a Sentence
a mesa in the Arizona desert
Recent Examples on the Web
Down below the high mesa, a freight train blew its horn.
—
Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
The towering features are similar to the buttes and mesas of Monument Valley along the Arizona-Utah border.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 26 Jan. 2025
Rather than focusing on the plateau itself, the work focuses on the neighboring lowlands, which include a large region dotted with thousands of buttes and mesas that rise roughly a kilometer above the surrounding plains.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
At the same time, however, the water exposure the mesas and buttes have experienced needn't have come through their being submerged by said ocean and, given their elevation, might best be explained through some other process.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for mesa 
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Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY, 4 Feb. 2025
The towering features are similar to the buttes and mesas of Monument Valley along the Arizona-Utah border.
—Ashley Strickland, CNN, 26 Jan. 2025
Rather than focusing on the plateau itself, the work focuses on the neighboring lowlands, which include a large region dotted with thousands of buttes and mesas that rise roughly a kilometer above the surrounding plains.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
At the same time, however, the water exposure the mesas and buttes have experienced needn't have come through their being submerged by said ocean and, given their elevation, might best be explained through some other process.
—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for mesa
Dictionary Entries Near mesa
Cite this Entry
“Mesa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mesa. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
mesa
noun
me·sa
ˈmā-sə 
: a flat-topped hill or small plateau with steep sides
Etymology
Spanish, literally, "table"
Geographical Definition
Mesa
geographical name
Me·sa
ˈmā-sə
city east of Phoenix in southwest central Arizona population 439,041
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