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

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 • Oct. 8, 2018

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 • Sep. 17, 2015

The cascade is one of thousands in the Condor cordillera, a rolling buffer between the cliffs of the eastern Andes and the continental flatness of the Amazon basin.

From Salon • Feb. 10, 2013

Finally we come over a last rib of the cordillera and drop into the white.

From New York Times • Nov. 18, 2011

His chief ambition at this point was to cross the cordillera in an unusual form of transportation, just as his Uncle Marcos had tried to do many years before.

From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende

Related Words

• sierra