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- Plateau -
pronounced [pla-toh or, especially Brit., plat-oh]
pronounced [pla-toh or, especially Brit., plat-oh]
noun
2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one's career.
3. Psychology . a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.
4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.
1. a land area having a relatively level surface considerably raised above adjoining land on at least one side, and often cut by deep canyons.
2. a period or state of little or no growth or decline: to reach a plateau in one's career.
3. Psychology . a period of little or no apparent progress in an individual's learning, marked by an inability to increase speed, reduce number of errors, etc., and indicated by a horizontal stretch in a learning curve or graph.
4. a flat stand, as for a centerpiece, sometimes extending the full length of a table.
verb (used without object)
5. to reach a state or level of little or no growth or decline, especially to stop increasing or progressing; remain at a stable level of achievement; level off: After a period of uninterrupted growth, sales began to plateau.
verb (used with object)
6. to cause to remain at a stable level, especially to prevent from rising or progressing: Rising inflation plateaued sales income.
Origin
1796, "elevated tract of relatively level land," from Fr. plateau, from O.Fr. platel (12c.) "flat piece of metal, wood, etc.," dim. of plat "flat surface or thing," noun use of adj. plat (see plat). Meaning "stage at which no progress is apparent" is attested from 1897, originally in psychology of learning. The verb is attested from 1952, from the noun.
Related Words
tableland
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plateau
1796, "elevated tract of relatively level land," from Fr. plateau, from O.Fr. platel (12c.) "flat piece of metal, wood, etc.," dim. of plat "flat surface or thing," noun use of adj. plat (see plat). Meaning "stage at which no progress is apparent" is attested from 1897, originally in psychology of learning. The verb is attested from 1952, from the noun.
Related Words
tableland
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/plateau
