continental divide
a divide separating river systems that flow to opposite sides of a continent.
Continental Divide. (in North America) the line of summits of the Rocky Mountains, separating streams flowing toward the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean from those flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, and the Arctic Ocean.
Origin of continental divide
1Words Nearby continental divide
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use continental divide in a sentence
The blaze, which is burning at an elevation of 9,000 feet and across both sides of the continental divide, forced Rocky Mountain National Park to close.
Colorado is fighting its largest wildfire in history. Other massive blazes are close behind. | Umair Irfan | October 22, 2020 | VoxIn this playground is a twenty-five-mile stretch of the most rugged section of the continental divide.
Your National Parks | Enos A. MillsLong snowshoe excursions on the continental divide have often brought me into the presence of mountain sheep in the snow.
Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. MillsAt the west the ridge expanded into the continental divide and the trail divided into dimmer footways.
Watched by Wild Animals | Enos A. MillsFrom this low continental divide the land slopes gently both to the north and south.
North America | Israel C. Russell
Now, four days later, I crossed the river and set off above to explore in the direction of the continental divide.
The Killer | Stewart Edward White
British Dictionary definitions for continental divide
the watershed of a continent, esp (often caps.) the principal watershed of North America, formed by the Rocky Mountains
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
Scientific definitions for continental divide
A region of high ground, from each side of which the river systems of a continent flow into different continental-scale drainage basins.♦ In North America, the Continental Divide is a series of mountain ridges stretching from Alaska to Mexico, marking the separation of drainage basins that empty into the Pacific Ocean or Bering Sea from those that empty into the Arctic or Atlantic Oceans or the Gulf of Mexico.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for continental divide
An imaginary geographic line defined by the fact that water poured on one side of it would ultimately flow into the ocean on one side of a continent, while water poured on the other side of the line would flow into the ocean on the other side of the continent.
Notes for continental divide
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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