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  crater
• Crater
  Crater

  noun

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

crater

¹ American  

[kray-ter] / ˈkreɪ tər /

noun

• craters,
  plural
• Crateris
  genitive

1. Geology, Astronomy.

   1. Also called impact crater;, meteorite crater. a large bowl-shaped depression on the surface of the earth or other heavenly body, formed by the impact of a meteorite.

   2. a similar depression or cavity that forms the opening of a volcano or geyser. The volcanic activity that creates such craters occurs on the surface of the earth as well as a number of other heavenly bodies.

2. the hole or pit in the ground where a bomb, shell, or military mine has exploded.

3. Electricity. the cavity formed in a positive carbon electrode by an electric arc.

4. Greek and Roman Antiquity. krater.

5. Metalworking. a depression at the end of a bead produced by welding.

6. (initial capital letter) the Cup, a small southern constellation west of Corvus and north of Hydra.

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verb (used with object)

• craters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cratered,
  past participle,  past
• cratering
  present participle

1. to make craters in.

   Bombs had cratered the landscape.

2. 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.

   3. to collapse, plunge, or fail suddenly; crash.

      The company’s stock has cratered 35% this year.

verb (used without object)

• craters,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cratered,
  past participle,  past
• cratering
  present participle

1. to form a crater or craters.

   The surface of the concrete cratered and cracked under the repeated impacts.

Crater ² American  

[kray-ter] / ˈkreɪ tər /

noun

1. Joseph Force 1889–?, a judge of the New York State Supreme Court: his mysterious disappearance on August 6, 1930, has never been solved.

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crater ¹ British  

/ ˈkreɪtə /

noun

1. the bowl-shaped opening at the top or side of a volcano or top of a geyser through which lava and gases are emitted

2. a similarly shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or exploding bomb

3. any of the circular or polygonal walled formations covering the surface of the moon and some other planets, formed probably either by volcanic action or by the impact of meteorites. They can have a diameter of up to 240 kilometres (150 miles) and a depth of 8900 metres (29 000 feet)

4. a pit in an otherwise smooth surface

5. a large open bowl with two handles, used for mixing wines, esp in ancient Greece

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verb

1. to make or form craters in (a surface, such as the ground)

2. slang to fail; collapse; crash

Crater ² British  

/ ˈkreɪtə /

noun

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

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crater Scientific  

/ krā′tər /

1. 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.

2. A shallow, bowl-shaped depression in a surface, formed by an explosion or by the impact of a body, such as a meteorite.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• crater-like
  adjective
• crateral
  adjective
• cratered
  adjective
• craterless
  adjective
• craterlike
  adjective
• craterous
  adjective
• intercrater
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• craters
  plural

Participles

• cratering
  present
• cratered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• crater
  simple
• craters
  simple
• have cratered
  perfect
• has cratered
  perfect
• am cratering
  progressive
• are cratering
  progressive
• is cratering
  progressive
• have been cratering
  perfect progressive
• has been cratering
  perfect progressive

Past

• cratered
  simple
• had cratered
  perfect
• was cratering
  progressive
• were cratering
  progressive
• had been cratering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will crater
  simple
• will have cratered
  perfect
• will be cratering
  progressive
• will have been cratering
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of crater

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin crātēr, from Greek krātḗr “mixing bowl,” literally, “mixer”, equivalent to krā- (base of kerannýnai “to mix”) + -tēr agent suffix; cf. crasis

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Explanation

A crater is a roundish dent left in the surface of something by the impact of something else. Look at the moon: it's covered in craters from thousands of impacts over millions of years. Once in a while, you might hear the word crater used as a verb, as in, "The movie cratered at the box office, earning way less than expected." But you'll usually hear crater used as a noun to refer to a bowl-shaped depression left behind by an explosion or impact. Outside Flagstaff, Arizona, you'll find Meteor Crater, one of the most well-defined impact craters on the surface of the earth. It's almost a mile across, even though the meteor that created it was less than 100 yards in diameter.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

crater Crater craters Crateris cratered cratering

For years, the Ames crater was thought to belong to a cluster of major meteor impacts across North America dating to roughly 467.5 million years ago.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 4, 2026

South Korea said North Korean land mines “highly likely” caused the explosions based on the blast crater, flame patterns and the soldiers’ injuries.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The researchers are particularly interested in whether the Stickney impact created a concentrated region of denser material beneath the crater.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026

The crater was officially named McGetchin in honor of pioneering lunar scientist Tom McGetchin.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

Mom and Dad looked at the hole in the wall and then at the little crater in the windowpane and talked quietly about what it would take to fix the damage.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

When NASA's Perseverance rover arrived at the inner rim of Mars' Jezero Crater in September 2023, researchers expected to encounter sedimentary rocks along what was once the shoreline of a Martian lake.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026

Astronomer Bill Gray, who first discovered the trajectory, says the object will land near the Einstein Crater, which is on the part of the Moon that receives daylight and is visible from Earth.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2026

China's Chang'e-7 mission is expected to land near Shackleton Crater in late 2026.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

Astrobotic's Griffin-1 lander is expected to land at Nobile Crater near the South Pole.

From BBC ● May 26, 2026

A few hours ago, I was worried because I had to go around Marth Crater.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

The drone camera panned round to assess the surrounding terrain: miles of marshland pockmarked with craters from artillery strikes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

The road was completely destroyed, Zakhavko said, with blast craters every few feet and utility poles lying across it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026

According to the paper's first author, Caleb Strom, a recent graduate of the University of North Dakota, ancient features such as impact craters sit alongside much younger terrain.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 24, 2026

While the Moon has numerous craters, many of which are far bigger than McGetchin, researching a crater's formation in real time can help build understanding of the Moon's geology.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

I'm in the middle of a bunch of craters that form a triangle.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

This is R Crateris, now known to be variable from above the 8th magnitude to below the 9th.

From Astronomical Curiosities Facts and Fallacies by J. Ellard Gore

The star Alkes, or α Crateris, must first be found.

From Half-hours with the Telescope Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction. by Richard A. (Richard Anthony) Proctor

If now the telescope be directed to Alkes, there will be found, following him at a distance of 42·5 s, and about one minute southerly, a small red star, R. Crateris.

From Half-hours with the Telescope Being a Popular Guide to the Use of the Telescope as a Means of Amusement and Instruction. by Richard A. (Richard Anthony) Proctor

In contrast, the far side is dominated by ancient, heavily cratered highlands, with a much thicker crust and relatively few volcanic plains.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

The Tom Cruise-led movie “Digger” cratered at the box office this weekend, limping to a fifth-place finish with $8 million in the U.S. and Canada in its theatrical debut.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

According to a Washington Post report, revenues dropped precipitously when he announced the change and then completely cratered when his name was added.

From Salon ● Aug. 28, 2026

His credit score had cratered from 753 to 563 and he was close to $75,000 in debt.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

If the Moon is so severely cratered by impacts, how has the Earth avoided them?

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Among his first goals is to “outspend” both of his primary competitors, Disney and Netflix—even as his media empire faces down a multibillion-dollar debt load and a cratering stock price.

From Slate ● Oct. 16, 2026

That places the impact around 100 million years before a major increase in cratering on Earth that researchers have suggested may be connected to collisions within the asteroid belt.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 22, 2026

What they show is rock-solid economy, fueled by a boom in artificial intelligence, that shows no sign of cratering.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026

The cratering of the electric-vehicle market after the end of a federal tax credit last fall also dented sales.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026

Thus, very roughly, craters on the Moon should be formed today at the rate of about 109 years/104 craters, = 105 years/crater, a hundred thousand years between cratering events.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

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Related Words

• hole
• mouth
• pit

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