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# mesa

noun (a mesa, mesas)

«mesa» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. (geography) A hill or mountain with steep sides and a large, flat top, found in dry places like the south-west USA and parts of Australia. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#m1)
2. (Spanish) «Mesa» means «table» in Spanish; the hill is named for its table-like shape. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#m2)

### In the lessons

In geography lessons on landforms, mesas form when soft rock around a hard cap of rock is worn away by wind and water (erosion). A smaller one is called a «butte». Famous mesas are in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico (for example Monument Valley). Phrases: «a flat-topped mesa», «mesa and butte».

### Examples

- A mesa is a hill with a flat top like a table. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x1)
- We saw red mesas in the desert in Arizona. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x2)
- Erosion slowly turned the plateau into mesas. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x3)
- A butte is smaller and narrower than a mesa. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x4)
- The old village was built on top of a mesa for safety. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x5)
- «Mesa» means «table» in Spanish. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x6)
- The cowboy rode past the tall mesa. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x7)
- In Australia, flat-topped hills like mesas are sometimes called «jump-ups». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/#x8)

### Note

Countable: one mesa, two mesas. Pronounced «MAY-sa». A loanword from Spanish. Order by size: plateau (largest) → mesa → butte (smallest). Not a maths word.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «mesa» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mesa/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«mesa» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/mesa.html) on Mova free.