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Glite Dictionary
Bad Lands

Bad Lands

1 6.8
A dry area of eroded rock with few plants in western South Dakota and Nebraska
  • noun
  • /bæd lændz/
translation icon : Badlands
  • Many tourists visit the Bad Lands to witness its unique landscapes and wildlife.

Examples

  • Have you ever visited the Bad Lands in South Dakota?

  • The Bad Lands are famous for their dramatic rock formations and stunning sunsets.

  • Many early settlers avoided the Bad Lands because of its harsh, unforgiving terrain.

  • Photographers love capturing sunrise over the dramatic rock formations in the Bad Lands.

  • The rugged beauty of the Bad Lands attracts thousands of visitors each year.

  • The Bad Lands are known for their unique rock formations.

  • During our road trip, we stopped to explore the fascinating geology of the Bad Lands.

Synonyms

Badlands
vsBad Lands
7.7

A dry area with few plants and worn away rock shapes

is written as two separate words rather than as one

Surface Forms

Bad Lands singular
Bad Lands plural

Morphology

Bad + land

The name transparently combines 'bad' (undesirable, poor) with 'land(s)' (terrain), so its sense of barren, eroded, or unsuitable territory is directly inferable from the constituents. As a descriptive place-name the adj+noun composition is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely understand the intended meaning.

Etymology

Bad Lands probably comes from early settlers who called the ground Bad because the Lands were broken, dry and 'hard to farm' or travel across. So today Bad Lands means a wild, empty area of sharp rock shapes and deep gullies.