cordillera

American  

[kawr-dl-yair-uh, -air-uh, kawr-dil-er-uh] / ˌkɔr dlˈyɛər ə, -ˈɛər ə, kɔrˈdɪl ər ə /

noun

1. a chain of mountains, usually the principal mountain system or mountain axis of a large landmass.

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cordillera British  

/ ˌkɔːdɪlˈjɛərə /

noun

1. a series of parallel ranges of mountains, esp in the northwestern US

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cordillera Scientific  

/ kôr′dl-yâr′ə /

1. A long and wide chain of mountains, especially the main mountain range of a large landmass. Cordilleras can include the valleys, basins, rivers, lakes, plains, and plateaus between parallel chains of a single mountain system, or they can consist solely of a string of connected mountain peaks.

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Other Word Forms

• cordilleran adjective

Etymology

Origin of cordillera

First recorded in 1695–1705; from Spanish, derivative of cordilla, diminutive of cuerda “rope, string” (from Latin chorda ). Cordillera originally applied to the Andes Mountains in South America and later to the same mountain chain in Central America and Mexico; cord

Example Sentences

Words, so many words were extinguished one by one in the silence of the cordillera, which remains even now silent and unchanging in its illusion of eternity.

From Salon

The morning after the knock on her door, Crump trekked up the cordillera, through a soup of fog, mud, and drizzle.

From The New Yorker

The scenery would have been enough to draw me to the cordillera, with its upthrust layers of multicolored sedimentary rock set around a crater that’s encircled by rugged river canyons.

From New York Times

Chile is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries because just off the coast the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera to ever-higher altitudes.

From US News

With a mixture of sadness and relief, Severo decided that his brother-in-law and his machine must have fallen into some hidden crevice of the cordillera, where they would never be found.

From Literature

Related Words

• sierra