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• atlas
  atlas

  noun

  a bound collection of maps.
• Atlas
  Atlas

  noun

  a Titan, son of Iapetus and brother of Prometheus and Epimetheus, condemned to support the sky on his shoulders: identified by the ancients with the Atlas Mountains.

atlas

¹ American  

[at-luhs] / ˈæt ləs /

noun

atlases, plural atlantes plural

1. a bound collection of maps.

2. a bound volume of charts, plates, or tables illustrating any subject.

3. Anatomy. the first cervical vertebra, which supports the head.

4. a size of drawing or writing paper, 26 × 34 or 33 inches.

5. Also called telamon.  Architecture. a sculptural figure of a man used as a column.

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Atlas ² American  

[at-luhs] / ˈæt ləs /

noun

Atlases plural

1. Classical Mythology. a Titan, son of Iapetus and brother of Prometheus and Epimetheus, condemned to support the sky on his shoulders: identified by the ancients with the Atlas Mountains.

2. a person who supports a heavy burden; a mainstay.

3. Charles Angelo Siciliano, 1894–1972, U.S. body-building advocate, born in Italy.

4. a liquid-propellant booster rocket, originally developed as the first U.S. ICBM, used with Agena or Centaur upper stages to launch satellites into orbit around the earth and send probes to the moon and planets; also used to launch the Mercury spacecraft into orbit around the earth.

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atlas ¹ British  

/ ˈætləs /

noun

1. a collection of maps, usually in book form

2. a book of charts, graphs, etc, illustrating aspects of a subject

   an anatomical atlas

3. anatomy the first cervical vertebra, attached to and supporting the skull in man Compare axis 1

4. architect another name for telamon

5. a standard size of drawing paper, 26 × 17 inches

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Atlas ² British  

/ ˈætləs /

noun

1. Greek myth a Titan compelled to support the sky on his shoulders as punishment for rebelling against Zeus

2. a US intercontinental ballistic missile, also used in launching spacecraft

3. astronomy a small satellite of Saturn, discovered in 1980

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Atlas ¹ Cultural  

1. In classical mythology, a Titan famous for his strength. After the defeat of the Titans by Zeus, Atlas was condemned to support the Earth and sky on his shoulders for eternity.

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atlas ² Cultural  

1. A bound collection of maps. Atlases are named after the Greek god Atlas.

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Discover More

An “Atlas” or “atlas” is an incredibly strong person or one who carries an enormous burden.

Since the sixteenth century, pictures of Atlas and his burden have been used as decorations on maps. Accordingly, the word atlas is used for a book of maps.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Atlases
  plural
• atlantes
  plural
• atlases
  plural

Etymology

Origin of atlas

1580–90 in sense “prop, support”; as name for a collection of maps, said to be from illustrations of Atlas supporting the globe in early books of this kind

Explanation

Can’t remember which countries border Uzbekistan? Consult an atlas, a book of maps, and you’ll find the information you need. An atlas gets its name from the Greek god Atlas, who, according to myth, was forced to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. You might feel like Atlas if you have to carry one of these books around. Atlases are usually large, oversized books that contain maps, diagrams, and information such as population figures. Traditionally, atlas refers specifically to a bound book of maps rather than to a folding map, a globe, or an online database.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

atlas Atlas Atlases atlases

Using brain stroke as an example, Folkerth says the atlas has uncovered new features that could help doctors preserve brain tissue that is injured but not yet beyond repair, potentially improving patient outcomes.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

Almost every resident carries a private atlas of vanished places: Regal Cinema, the old Coffee House, Urdu bookshops in Daryaganj, winter evenings at India Gate before barricades and security cordons reshaped the city.

From BBC ● May 25, 2026

An agreeable companion on the page, Mr. McCarthy prefers scenic parkways to multilane highways and amusingly relies on a Rand McNally road atlas instead of phone-enabled navigation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026

The Conservatory project has created what researchers describe as a "comprehensive atlas of regulatory conservation across plants, including dozens of crop species and their wild ancestors."

From Science Daily ● Mar. 14, 2026

Worse, it might lead to a bigger road the atlas had been too old to show.

From "Pax" by Sara Pennypacker

Two boys, Atlas and Sebastian Carbajal, were listed on the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026

Steven C. Kemp’s sets contrasted the forbiddingly gray and angular environment of Atlas with the riotously colored, luminescent trees and rocks of the world outside.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

One of the more unusual features of the Atlas Lions' rise has been the prominent role of the players' mothers.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Projected on the rear wall were entries dubbed an Atlas of Extinctions, starting with Trilobites and moving from species through peoples, languages, religions, art works, and institutions in modern Gaza.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

That wasn’t exactly a confidence builder for the man preparing to ride it into orbit, but it was the more powerful Atlas that would be required to accelerate the Mercury capsule to orbital velocity.

From "Hidden Figures" by Margot Lee Shetterly

"Rather attractive... with Atlases supporting enormous mock columns and a rather luxurious intimacy about the atmosphere".

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2022

Atop massive half-columns, 38 Atlases, each 25 feet tall and carved from limestone, seemingly held up the architrave — the main beam that rests on the capitals of columns — with their bent arms.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2020

Could Lou or one of the other Atlases take his title?

From The Guardian ● Nov. 6, 2015

The earlier generation of nuclear missiles - the mere dozens of Titans and the Atlases - were massive, expensive to maintain, volatile because of their liquid fuel and in need of constant security, Heefner said.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 17, 2015

The inventors, the workers, the thinkers, the mechanics, the surgeons, the philosophers—these are the Atlases upon whose shoulders rests the great fabric of modern civilization.

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 4 (of 12) Dresden Edition?Lectures by Ingersoll, Robert Green

MRI-based atlases capture the brain's broad structure but not individual cells.

From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026

His meticulous survey takes in dozens of sources, from the obscure to the well-known: pamphlets to legal codes, sermons to atlases, maps, travel narratives, even journals kept by ships’ captains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 28, 2025

The researchers will release their brain atlases as open-source references and provide the multi-tier mapping approach as an out-of-the-box package.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2025

The Nazi atlases “were like documents of death. The atlases that Shiv is creating are really living, interactive tools to support life.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2024

As in all atlases, there were two completely blank pages at the very end.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

Related Words

• album
• booklet
• brochure
• copy
• dictionary
• edition
• essay
• fiction
• magazine
• manual
• novel
• pamphlet
• paperback
• publication
• text
• textbook
• tome
• volume
• work
• writing