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

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Compare meaning

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

• anticline vs. syncline

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anticline

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

An antiform has the same shape as an anticline, but the relative ages of the beds in the fold cannot be determined.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

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

From Washington Post ● Oct. 27, 2016

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

From Scientific American ● Jun. 4, 2012

North and south of the great anticline of the Weald of Kent and Sussex are two synclinal troughs known as the London and Hampshire basins.

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

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