BUTTES Synonyms: 56 Similar and Opposite Words

buttes

noun

plural of butte

as in cliffs

a type of hill with a flat top and steep sides that is found in the southwestern U.S. The otherworldly sandstone buttes of Monument Valley, Arizona are well worth a visit.

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of buttes The $450 million carbon-neutral library blends seamlessly into the rolling buttes. — Alicia Underlee Nelson, Midwest Living, 7 Aug. 2026 Each summer, runners carry prayers more than 50 miles from the town of Bluff, Utah, to the high country below the buttes, and the White Mesa Ute community beside the monument holds its Bear Dance each year. — Kerri J. Malloy, The Conversation, 23 July 2026 Today, visitors can spot wildlife like bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, and black-footed ferrets among the sharply eroded buttes. — Scott Bay, Travel + Leisure, 2 July 2026 From the layer-cake buttes of Badlands National Park to the winding canyons of the Black Hills, this part of South Dakota is legendary. — Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 July 2026 The unique red rock buttes often show up in movies, calendars and magazines. — Staff, USA Today, 8 June 2026 The kitchen turns out whimsical bar food, like Mexican pizza, and wall art depicts the buttes and cacti of the Seussian desert. — Chris Malloy, Bon Appetit Magazine, 14 Apr. 2026 Alaska runs along a ridge just outside of Arches National Park, offering long-range views of the park’s towers and buttes across the Salt Valley. — Graham Averill, Outside, 28 Mar. 2026 As Arizona yielded to New Mexico, the dirt seemed to get redder and the ridges rose to form buttes. — Tribune News Service, San Diego Union-Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for buttes

Noun

The beach is the stuff of postcards and paintings, hugged by cliffs with improbably radiant aquamarine water and a giant conical rock formation right in the middle of the bay.

— Kathryn Romeyn, Travel + Leisure, 26 Aug. 2026
In the spring, when the snow is melting and the springs that are high up in the rock cliffs some miles away are carrying it down full speed, the ditches overflow as does the little creek that runs near my cabin.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of cliffs

Noun

The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat warning that applies to more than 1 million people in San Diego County, mostly across inland valleys, foothills and mountains where high temperatures will approach or exceed 95 to 114 degrees.

— Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 26 Aug. 2026
The pair left their vehicle to find assistance, traversing salt flats toward Badwater Road, a two-lane highway encircled by mountains.

— Andrea Sachs, Washington Post, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of mountains

Noun

Los Alamos, not far from Santa Fe, sits at the foot of Pajarito Mountain in a land of canyons and mesas.

— Daniel de Visé, USA Today, 25 Aug. 2026
Beginning in the late 1960s, artists abandoned galleries in favour of deserts, salt flats, mesas, and remote terrain, using these surroundings as both setting and material.

— Lara Johnson-Wheeler, Vogue, 3 July 2026

Definition of mesas

Noun

My walk took me over the peaks and ridges of the Eastern highlands, on a narrow footpath that rose and fell thousands of feet in the course of an average day.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 18 Aug. 2026
Ivan was married, with two children, and worked as the curator of a small museum that collected artifacts from the eastern highlands, like masks and shields.

— Rachel Aviv, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026

Definition of highlands

Noun

Up to half of the more than 200,000 mountain glaciers — vast, slow moving rivers of ice that creep across the world’s peaks — are expected to disappear by the end of this century, even if ambitious climate goals are met.

— Laura Paddison, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
The steep slopes and lush valleys below the Himalayan mountain range — home to many of the world’s highest peaks and remaining glaciers — are especially vulnerable to flooding and landslides.

— Shristi Kafle, Fortune, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of peaks

Browse Nearby Words

buttery

buttes

butt heads

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“Buttes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/buttes. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of buttes

noun

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