definitions
  • synonyms

crater

[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /
|
SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR crater ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

verb (used with object)

to make craters in: Bombs had cratered the landscape.
Slang.
  1. to cancel, abandon, or cast aside: to crater the new project.
  2. to destroy or ruin: One more disappointment won't crater me.

verb (used without object)

to form a crater or craters: The surface of the concrete cratered and cracked under the repeated impacts.

RELATED WORDS

mouth, hole, pit, abyss, opening, bowl, hollow, depression, caldera

Nearby words

crassulacean acid metabolism, crassulaceous, crassus, cratch, crate, crater, crater lake, crater lake national park, crater mound, cratered, craterlet

Origin of crater

1605–15; < Latin < Greek krātḗr mixing bowl, literally, mixer, equivalent to krā- (base of kerannýnai to mix) + -tēr agentive suffix; cf. crasis
Related formscra·ter·al, cra·ter·ous, adjectivecra·ter·like, adjectivein·ter·cra·ter, adjective

Definition for crater (2 of 3)

Crater

[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /

noun

Joseph Force [fawrs, fohrs] /fɔrs, foʊrs/, 1889–?, a judge of the New York State Supreme Court: his mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930, has never been solved.

Definition for crater (3 of 3)

krater

or cra·ter

[ krey-ter ]
/ ˈkreɪ tər /

noun Greek and Roman Antiquity.

a mixing bowl characterized by a wide mouth and body with two handles projecting vertically from the juncture of the neck and body, used to mix wine and water.
Compare kelebe.

Origin of krater

1855–60; < Greek krātḗr; see crater
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for crater

British Dictionary definitions for crater (1 of 2)

crater

/ (ˈkreɪtə) /

noun

verb

to make or form craters in (a surface, such as the ground)
slang to fail; collapse; crash
Derived Formscratered, adjectivecraterless, adjectivecrater-like, adjective

Word Origin for crater

C17: from Latin: mixing bowl, crater, from Greek kratēr, from kerannunai to mix

British Dictionary definitions for crater (2 of 2)

Crater

/ (ˈkreɪtə) /

noun Latin genitive Crateris (ˈkreɪtərɪs)

a small faint constellation in the S hemisphere lying between Virgo and Hydra
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

Word Origin and History for crater

crater

n.

1610s, from Latin crater, from Greek krater "bowl for mixing wine with water," from kera- "to mix," from PIE root *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (see rare (adj.2)). Used in Latin for bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. Applied to features of the Moon since 1860. As a verb, from 1830 in poetry, 1872 in science. Related: Cratered; cratering.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Medicine definitions for crater

crater

[ krā′tər ]

n.

A circular depression or pit in the surface of a tissue or body part.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Science definitions for crater

crater

[ krā′tər ]

A bowl-shaped depression at the top of a volcano or at the mouth of a geyser. Volcanic craters can form because of magma explosions in which a large amount of lava is thrown out from a volcano, leaving a hole, or because the roof of rock over an underground magma pool collapses after the magma has flowed away.
A shallow, bowl-shaped depression in a surface, formed by an explosion or by the impact of a body, such as a meteorite.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.