escarpment
Geology. a long, precipitous, clifflike ridge of land, rock, or the like, commonly formed by faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust.: Compare scarp (def. 1).
ground cut into an escarp around a fortification or defensive position.
Origin of escarpment
1Words Nearby escarpment
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use escarpment in a sentence
It strides across 5,000 mostly forested acres on the eastern escarpment of the plateau.
Plug-in cars are the future. The grid isn’t ready. | Will Englund | October 16, 2021 | Washington PostThe views from the edge of the escarpment are stunning—you can see across the Hudson Valley on a clear day.
It is known as the Goro escarpment, and at its eastern end it forms the boundary between the protectorate and Abyssinia.
The curved escarpment of the Little Douvre sloped away out of sight beneath him.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoPushing his way through the drifting foliage, Dalgard swam ahead to the foot of the rocky escarpment.
Star Born | Andre Norton
The cave being almost everywhere open to the sky, the smoke issued freely, blackening the curved escarpment.
Toilers of the Sea | Victor HugoSilently he went on climbing the escarpment, digging into the rough rock.
The Judas Valley | Gerald Vance
British Dictionary definitions for escarpment
/ (ɪˈskɑːpmənt) /
the long continuous steep face of a ridge or plateau formed by erosion; scarp
any steep slope, such as one resulting from faulting
a steep artificial slope immediately in front of the rampart of a fortified place
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for escarpment
[ ĭ-skärp′mənt ]
A steep slope or long cliff formed by erosion or by vertical movement of the Earth's crust along a fault. Escarpments separate two relatively level areas of land. The term is often used interchangeably with scarp but is more accurately associated with cliffs produced by erosional processes rather than those produced by faulting.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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