steppe

plural steppes

1. countableuncountableThe grasslands of Eastern Europe and Asia.First known use 1671

   Nevertheless be it remarked, that even a Russian steppe has tumuli and gold ornaments […]

   1831, Thomas Carlyle, “Preliminary”, in Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 3

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   Enkidu was the hairy man of the wild steppes, and Gilgamesh was the hero of civilization; but now the contrast is between Gilgamesh, the king, the man of political power, the heroic man of action, the extrovert, and Utnapishtim, the man of religious authority, the introvert, the sage.

   1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 187

2. countableuncountableA vast, cold, dry, grassy plain.

   After standing around on the dirt steppe for a bit, surveying the nearby pit-bull kennels and skeletal mountain tree line, I headed back to Dover to meet Renny Abrams, the town judge, at his bustling country store and gas station.

   2012 January 23, Aaron Lake Smith, “Peeling Oniontown”, in VICE, archived from the original on 02 May 2025

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   Grasslands: The Steppe biome is a dry, cold, grassland that is found in all of the continents except Australia and Antarctica. It is mostly found in the USA, Mongolia, Siberia, Tibet and China. There isn't much humidity in the air because Steppe is located away from the ocean and close to mountain barriers.

   2000, Mary Elizabeth v. N., “Steppe”, in Blue Planet Biomes, West Tisbury Elementary School