Definition of "barranca" [bar•ran•ca]

• Southwestern U.S. A deep ravine or gorge. (noun)
• Southwestern U.S. A bluff. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Even now, the meandering black strip of asphalt, cut deep into the green hillside, and perched on the edge of the deep 'barranca', is like an unwelcome intruder in the landscape."
• "The barranca is the site of the ancient right of way that in the time of private property in land ran across the holding of one Chauvet, a French pioneer of California who came from his native country in the fabled days of gold."
• "The barranca is 2000 feet deep and is cut in layers of resistant basaltic lava flows and softer explosive fragmental material."