continents

Cultural  

1. The large parts of the surface of the Earth that rise above sea level. The seven major continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

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According to the theory of plate tectonics, continents move along piggy-back on the tectonic plates like rafts floating on water.

Continents are made from the lightest rocks in the Earth. Some of these are also the oldest known rocks on Earth, with an age of 3.5 billion years, measured by radioactive dating.

Example Sentences

The fossil snakes described in the study came from Northern Patagonia and are closely tied to an ancient southern lineage that lived across the continents of Gondwana.

From Science Daily • Apr. 24, 2026

That tension defines where BTS stands today, as they kick off the biggest world tour in K-pop history - 85 dates across five continents over the next 12 months.

From BBC • Apr. 8, 2026

The code is already being replicated by developers in coffee shops on three continents.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026

Land-based removals are vulnerable to reversal—for example, if a carbon-sink forest were to catch fire—according to the European Environmental Bureau, which groups together nearly 200 green groups across the continents.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 26, 2026

Those who lived through World War I called it the Great War because of its massive scale: some two dozen countries joined the conflict, which swept across continents and killed perhaps 20 million people.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman