glacier

American  

[glay-sher] / ˈgleɪ ʃər /

noun

• glaciers
  plural

1. 

   an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.

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glacier British  

/ ˈɡlæsɪə, ˈɡleɪs- /

noun

1. a slowly moving mass of ice originating from an accumulation of snow. It can either spread out from a central mass ( continental glacier ) or descend from a high valley ( alpine glacier )

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glacier Scientific  

/ glā′shər /

1. A large mass of ice moving very slowly through a valley or spreading outward from a center. Glaciers form over many years from packed snow in areas where snow accumulates faster than it melts. A glacier is always moving, but when its forward edge melts faster than the ice behind it advances, the glacier as a whole shrinks backward.

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glacier Cultural  

1. A large mass of ice formed over many years that does not melt during the summer. Glaciers move slowly over an area of land such as a mountain valley.

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Discover More

A significant percentage of the water of the Earth is locked up in glaciers.

Glaciers exist in high mountains throughout the temperate zones and cover most of Antarctica. Glaciers recede during warm periods and can expand during cold periods, creating ice ages.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• glaciered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• glaciers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of glacier

1735–45; < dialectal French, derivative of Old French glace ice < Late Latin glacia (for Latin glaciēs )

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Explanation

A glacier is a very large ice mass, sometimes miles and miles long. Glaciers might not seem all that exciting at first, but people are paying close attention to them because their melting is an indication of climate change. Most glaciers on Earth are found around the North and South poles, but every continent except for Australia has glaciers somewhere in its high mountain ranges. People often want to go see glaciers because they're beautiful, and some you can actually hike across. Luckily, if you get thirsty glaciers are the planet’s largest reservoir of freshwater. You’ll just have to find some way of melting them . . .

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

glacier glaciers

Meanwhile, Doug has made a confession that haunts the men as they follow a pregnant bison onto an unstable glacier.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

By October 2026, however, extensive sections of the island were free of snow, leaving darker glacier ice exposed.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

The water reaches Antarctica's coastline through ocean currents that have been altered by climate change, creating conditions that accelerate melting beneath the glacier.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 28, 2026

"This river can flood if the glacier collapses or if the glacial lake bursts out and we are living in constant fear."

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

The sides of the glacier had crumbled into piles of icy chunks.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

But behind this unusual sight is a more serious story about the changing condition of Antarctica's glaciers.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

Satellite observations spanning recent decades reveal that other glaciers on Vega Island have also lost ice, exposing increasing amounts of the underlying bedrock.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

They also offer rare evidence of how mountain glaciers endured major changes in Earth's climate.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 29, 2026

This has sped up the melting of glaciers, icefields, snowpacks, and ground that's normally frozen all year.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

Cold air masses sliding down the sides of the glaciers speed up until they become winds of close to 200 miles per hour.

From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong

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Related Words

• ice floe
• iceberg

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