anticline

American  

[an-ti-klahyn] / ˈæn tɪˌklaɪn /

noun

Geology.

1. an anticlinal rock structure.

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anticline British  

/ ˈæntɪˌklaɪn /

noun

1. a formation of stratified rock raised up, by folding, into a broad arch so that the strata slope down on both sides from a common crest Compare syncline

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anticline Scientific  

/ ăn′tĭ-klīn′ /

1. A fold of rock layers that slope downward on both sides of a common crest. Anticlines form when rocks are compressed by plate-tectonic forces. They can be as small as a hill or as large as a mountain range.

2. Compare syncline

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Etymology

Origin of anticline

First recorded in 1860–65; back formation from anticlinal

Compare meaning

How does anticline compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• anticline vs. syncline

Example Sentences

The harsh, high-desert anticline is almost as big as Delaware and home to such wildness and alien-looking geology that the Mars Society has built a Mars Desert Research Station there.

From Washington Post • Sep. 16, 2022

Not surprisingly, the long anticline of Simon’s post-“Graceland” career is the dullest part of the book.

From Washington Post • Oct. 27, 2016

If the axial plane is sufficiently tilted that the beds on one side have been tilted past vertical, the fold is known as an overturned anticline or syncline.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

It sliced through the ancient caldera, neatly bisecting the ancient Jerome anticline with its twinned ore bodies.

From Scientific American • Jun. 4, 2012

As we follow the Sandown anticline westward it gradually dies away, the upheaved area being actually a long oval—what we may call a turtle-back.

From The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight by Hughes, J. Cecil