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# plateau

noun (a plateau, plateaus or plateaux); verb (plateau, plateaus, plateaued, plateauing)

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

## Everyday

1. A plateau is a large, flat area of high land, higher than the land around it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#m1)
2. A plateau is a time when something stops going up or down and stays at the same level («Her progress reached a plateau»). [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#m2)
3. To plateau is to stop growing or improving and stay level. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#m3)

### In the lessons

In geography lessons, plateaus such as the Tibetan Plateau or the Colorado Plateau are landforms, like mountains and valleys. In maths and science, on a line graph a plateau is the flat part where the value stays the same. In sport and learning, you «hit a plateau» when you stop improving for a while.

### Examples

- The Tibetan Plateau is the highest in the world. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x1)
- The village stands on a flat plateau above the valley. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x2)
- On the graph, the line reaches a plateau after ten minutes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x3)
- My reading scores have plateaued this term. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x4)
- Athletes sometimes hit a plateau in training. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x5)
- The temperature rose, then plateaued at 100 °C as the water boiled. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x6)
- Cows grazed on the windy plateau. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/P/plateau/#x7)

### Note

Plural: plateaus or plateaux (French spelling). Pronounced «PLAT-oh». On a graph, a flat line means «no change» in the amount.

## On Mova

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