From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishprairieprai‧rie /ˈpreəri $ ˈpreri/ noun [countable] SGa wide open area of fairly flat land in North America which is covered in grass or wheat
Examples from the Corpus
prairie• Ten years after the last plowing, it was evident to Leopold that the reborn Curtis prairie was only a half-breed wilderness.• Then a summer drought parched the land, turning green prairies a dusty yellow brown.• When Dorothy stood in the doorway and looked around, she could see nothing but the great grey prairie on every side.• The grasses that did thrive were not prairie species.• A whole succession of prairie branches was built to develop settlement and to tap the furthest reaches of the grain-growing areas.• Tree seedlings, Eurasian migrants, and farm weeds all thrived along with the replanted prairie species.• It therefore took a southerly route across the prairie provinces of the Dominion.• But insisting on her promise, he led her up the cliff, on to the prairie, and away.Origin prairie (1700-1800) French Latin pratum “field” 