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Synonyms

fjord

American  
[fyawrd, fyohrd, fyohr, fyoor] / fyɔrd, fyoʊrd, fyoʊr, fyʊər /
Or fiord

noun

  1. a long, narrow arm of the sea bordered by steep cliffs: usually formed by glacial erosion.

  2. (in Scandinavia) a bay.

fjord British  
/ fjɔːd /

noun

  1. (esp on the coast of Norway) a long narrow inlet of the sea between high steep cliffs formed by glacial action

"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
fjord Scientific  
/ fyôrd /

  1. A long, narrow, deep inlet from the sea between steep slopes of a mountainous coast. Fjords usually occur where ocean water flows into valleys formed near the coast by glaciers.

Other Word Forms

  • fjordic adjective

Etymology

Origin of fjord

From Norwegian; firth

Explanation

A fjord is a long, narrow strip of sea that falls between tall cliffs. If you’re traveling in Norway you might be amazed by the rocky cliffs surrounding the deep water of a fjord. A fjord is formed when a slow moving glacier carves out a valley in the earth that then becomes flooded by ocean water. Tall cliffs surrounding a narrow band of water make fjords look very dramatic. Fjords are common in countries like Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. The word fjord gets its looks from its Norwegian origins. Pronounce this funny looking word with a long “e” sound and the accent on the first syllable: “FEE-ord.”

Keep Reading on Vocabulary.com

Vocabulary lists containing fjord

Physical Geography - Middle School

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Boy: Tales of Childhood

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Physical Geography - High School

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

IKATEQ, Greenland—Deep in a remote fjord in Greenland, hundreds of rusty fuel drums known locally as “American flowers” litter the icy wilderness.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 11, 2026

Here in Kapisillit in western Greenland, a cluster of coloured houses cling to the hillside in a frozen fjord.

From Barron's • Mar. 3, 2026

They placed a ten-kilometer-long fiber-optic cable on the seafloor across the fjord in front of the Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat glacier.

From Science Daily • Nov. 14, 2025

Blanchett even took her family to the Arctic Circle over New Year’s and they all leapt into a fjord.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 12, 2025

The exciting new boat made it possible for us to go much farther afield, and every day we would travel far out into the fjord, hunting for a different island.

From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.