Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

epicontinental

[ep-i-kon-tn-en-tl]
See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com
adjective
  1. found or located in or on a continent: epicontinental minerals; an epicontinental sea.

Origin of epicontinental

First recorded in 1900–05; epi- + continental
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for epicontinental

Historical Examples

  • The known deposits all point to shallow waters of epicontinental seas; no abyssal formations have been recognized.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 3

    Various

  • They were epicontinental seas; that is, they rested upon (Greek, epi) the submerged portion of the continental plateau.

    The Elements of Geology

    William Harmon Norton

  • The epicontinental sea was shoaled and narrowed, and muds were washed in from the adjacent lands.

    The Elements of Geology

    William Harmon Norton

British Dictionary definitions for epicontinental

epicontinental

adjective
  1. (esp of a sea) situated on a continental shelf or continent
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