badlands
n.n. a large area of land that is difficult to live on because it is dry, rocky, and has few trees or plants. It is often used to describe a place where nothing grows and the ground is full of holes.
n. a tract of land that is barren, rocky, and unsuitable for agriculture or habitation. Often used in geological or geographical contexts to describe arid, eroded landscapes.
The explorers traveled through the dry badlands for several days.
The cattle rancher moved his herd to the high plains to escape the harsh conditions of the badlands.
The fossil beds found in the badlands provide a unique window into the prehistoric ecosystem that once thrived in this now desolate and inhospitable terrain.
From earlier Bad Lands, calque of Canadian French mauvaises terres à traverser (“bad lands to cross”), itself a calque of Lakota Makȟóšiča (from makȟá (“land”) + o- (attributive prefix) + šíča (“bad”)).