Meaning & use
plateau
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Meanings
nouncountabletechnical
A broad area of high, mostly level ground.
Grammar: Plural plateaus or plateaux: the Tibetan plateau.
Patterns
- on a plateau
The village sits on a plateau above the valley.
Farmers grow wheat on the high plateau.
The Colorado Plateau has many canyons.
nounusually singularfigurative
A stage during which progress, growth or change stops for a while after rising.
Grammar: Often with a: reach a plateau, hit a plateau.
Patterns
- reach a plateau
- on a plateau
My weight loss has reached a plateau.
Sales hit a plateau in the third quarter.
Many learners experience a plateau after the first year.
verbintransitive
To stop rising or improving and stay at about the same level.
Grammar: No object: sales plateaued.
Patterns
- plateau at something
- plateau out
Prices plateaued at the end of the year.
Her progress plateaued after six weeks.
The population began to plateau in the 1990s.
Word forms
| plural | plateaus |
|---|---|
| third person singular | plateaus |
| past tense | plateaued |
| past participle | plateaued |
| -ing form | plateauing |
Common combinations
- reach a plateau
- The company reached a plateau in growth.
- hit a plateau
- Her training hit a plateau.
- high plateau
- They crossed a high plateau.
- plateau off
- Numbers have started to plateau off.
- weight-loss plateau
- A weight-loss plateau is common.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tableland
- Tableland is a rarer word for a high flat area.
- standstill
- Standstill implies a complete stop, not a leveling after growth.
- stagnation
- Stagnation suggests unhealthy lack of change.
- level off
- Level off is a phrasal verb with the same meaning as the verb, but more informal.
Opposites
Commonly confused: plateau or plate?
plateau vs plate
A plate holds food; plateau is a high flat land or a pause in progress.
Practice
After rapid improvement, her test scores have ____ at about 85 percent.
Choose one answer.
Plateaued means stopped rising and stayed level. Plunged means fell sharply, and pleaded is unrelated; peaked out is not a normal phrase.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “plateau”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.