plateau
part of speech
noun (a plateau, plateaus or plateaux); verb (plateau, plateaus, plateaued, plateauing)
meaning for a pupil
1) A plateau is a large, flat area of high land, higher than the land around it. tree →
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 →
3) To plateau is to stop growing or improving and stay level. tree →
sense 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 →
- The village stands on a flat plateau above the valley. tree →
- On the graph, the line reaches a plateau after ten minutes. tree →
- My reading scores have plateaued this term. tree →
- Athletes sometimes hit a plateau in training. tree →
- The temperature rose, then plateaued at 100 °C as the water boiled. tree →
- Cows grazed on the windy plateau. tree →
note
Plural: plateaus or plateaux (French spelling). Pronounced «PLAT-oh». On a graph, a flat line means «no change» in the amount.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «plateau» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.