Intermontane

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Situated or occurring between mountain ranges; relating to valleys or regions enclosed by mountains; describing geographical features found amidst upland areas
2. Pertaining to an area lying between mountain chains; characterizing landscapes or environments bounded by elevated terrain; indicating a location set in the midst of mountainous regions
3. Referring to spaces or zones positioned between separate mountain ridges; connected with topographical formations surrounded by highlands; denoting places encompassed by multiple mountain ranges

Etymology: "Intermontane" is a plain formation: the Latin prefix "inter-", meaning "between" or "among", joined to "montane", an adjective from Latin "montanus", "of the mountains," itself built on "mons" (genitive "montis"), "mountain." Put together, the word means "lying between mountains," and it is used mainly in geography and geology to describe valleys, basins, plateaus, or ecosystems tucked among ranges. The most useful thing to know about it is its everyday role in North American geography, where it names a whole region: the Intermontane West, or Intermountain West, the high basins and plateaus of Nevada, Utah, and neighboring states lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and Cascades. Geographers apply the adjective to the land itself, so a reader might meet an "intermontane basin" in a textbook without any need for a dictionary.

Synonyms: intermountain, between mountains