: an isolated hill or mountain with steep or precipitous sides usually having a smaller summit area than a mesa
Examples of butte in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Another legend suggests the name came from two local buttes resembling piles of horse manure — the actual meaning of the word.
—
Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 7 May 2025
Image The forest stretches as far as the eye can see, over multiple buttes that rise dome-like out of the ground.
—Michael Hanson, New York Times, 1 May 2025
Badlands National Park, South Dakota The 244,000-acre Badlands National Park offers a mix of towering rock spires and buttes surrounding verdant prairie.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 13 June 2025
Comprising nearly 463,000 acres of private and leased public land centered on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the American Prairie reserve is decidedly un-tropical, a rolling shortgrass prairie that stretches out to the horizon, punctuated by smatterings of trees and rocky buttes.
—Adam Roy, Outside Online, 24 Apr. 2025
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Marley Malenfant, Austin American Statesman, 7 May 2025
Image The forest stretches as far as the eye can see, over multiple buttes that rise dome-like out of the ground.
—Michael Hanson, New York Times, 1 May 2025
Badlands National Park, South Dakota The 244,000-acre Badlands National Park offers a mix of towering rock spires and buttes surrounding verdant prairie.
—Graham Averill, Outside Online, 13 June 2025
Comprising nearly 463,000 acres of private and leased public land centered on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, the American Prairie reserve is decidedly un-tropical, a rolling shortgrass prairie that stretches out to the horizon, punctuated by smatterings of trees and rocky buttes.
—Adam Roy, Outside Online, 24 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for butte
Cite this Entry
“Butte.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/butte. Accessed 20 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
butte
noun
: a hill with steep sides standing in a flat area
Geographical Definition
Butte
geographical name
city in southwestern Montana on a plateau in the Rockies population 32,996
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