dust bowl

noun

Definition of dust bowlnext
as in desert

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

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 dust bowl Well, that was because of all the people that came from the dust bowl out to California to work in the aeronautics industry. — New Atlas, 10 July 2024 Perhaps irony, like water for the swimming pool, is a resource that dries up seasonally in these parts, leaving only a dust bowl of surly resentment and some tatty deckchairs behind. — Jessica Kiang, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2023 The research is also concerning for Californians, who have seen their state ravaged by record-setting wildfires and drought that turned thousands of acres of farmland into dust bowls. — Tony Briscoe, Los Angeles Times, 29 Aug. 2023 He was born in the dust bowl town of Dodge City, Kan., one year into the Great Depression in 1930. — Tammy Lagorce, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2023 See All Example Sentences for dust bowl
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dust bowl
  1. desert
  2. no-man's-land
  3. open air
  4. wasteland
  5. wilderness
  6. wild
Noun
  • Click here to see more photos of the one-of-a-kind homes in the Utah desert.
    — Abby Montanez, Robb Report, 19 Mar. 2025
  • In addition, strong winds over desert areas could result in briefly lowered visibilities to well under a mile at times in blowing dust or blowing sand.
    — CA Weather Bot, Sacramento Bee, 18 Mar. 2025
Definition of desert
Noun
  • Today, guerrillas, drug smugglers, poachers, and jaguars rule this vast no-man's-land.
    — David Ewing Duncan, Outside Online, 17 May 2022
  • When this happens, their planet goes back and forth between being a searing, endless stretch of desert or frozen no-man's-land.
    — JP Mangalindan, Peoplemag, 29 Mar. 2024
Definition of no-man's-land
Noun
  • The bodies would have been exposed to open air at first, as the ash cloud would have deposited only a few centimeters of ash on the ground.
    — Ars Technica, Ars Technica, 27 Feb. 2025
  • Cielo is their beachside, open air, all-day Mediterranean restaurant and shisha lounge serving meals from breakfast through dinner.
    — Eric Fuller, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2024
Definition of open air
Noun
  • To assign much depth to the interaction is to grasp at straws, desperate for gossip in a fresh-lavender-scented wasteland.
    — Alanna Bennett, refinery29.com, 14 Mar. 2025
  • Our tour guide for this near-apocalyptic wasteland is Michelle (Brown), a young woman who lost her parents and genius younger brother, Christopher (Woody Norman), in a car accident years ago.
    — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2025
Definition of wasteland
Noun
  • Cedar Key sits off a part of Florida that is home to large swaths of mangrove wilderness, including Cedar Key Scrub State Reserve and Waccasassa Bay Preserve State Park.
    — Mark Price, Miami Herald, 18 Mar. 2025
  • In the course of the nineteen-eighties, New York transformed from a flaming wasteland of muggings, languid professionalism, and underground parties into a despoiled wilderness of muggings, careerism, and public glitz.
    — Nathan Heller, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2025
Definition of wilderness
Noun
  • Unincorporated and wild, the town on the edge of L.A. suited him.
    — Stephen Rodrick, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2025
  • In the desert wilds of its native Mexico, old man cactus (Cephalocereus senilis) grows to 20 feet tall and lives up to 200 years.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 25 Jan. 2025
Definition of wild

Browse Nearby Words

dust bowl
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dust bowl.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dust%20bowl. Accessed 24 Mar. 2025.

Copy Citation

Share

More from Merriam-Webster on dust bowl

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about dust bowl

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

More Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments
See More

Popular Features

See More

The Difference Between 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

What do SCOTUS, POTUS, and FLOTUS mean?

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Word Game Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
dog-in-disguise
Rhyme Disguise Quiz Pair up words that look different but sound alike.
See All