escarpment

[ih-skahrp-muh nt]

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noun

Geology. a long, precipitous, clifflike ridge of land, rock, or the like, commonly formed by faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust.Compare scarp(def 1).

ground cut into an escarp around a fortification or defensive position.

Origin of escarpment

From the French word escarpement, dating back to 1795–1805. See escarp, -ment

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for escarpment

ridge, hill, ledge, cliff

Examples from the Web for escarpment

Historical Examples of escarpment

At length they crossed the escarpment of the hill, and stood upon the summit.
The Young Voyageurs
Mayne Reid
Silently he went on climbing the escarpment, digging into the rough rock.
The Judas Valley
Gerald Vance
Probably the escarpment that extends from Austin to Eagle Pass.
Original Narratives of Early American History
Vaca and Others
The Dunkirk shale loams are found upon the hill or escarpment.
The Grapes of New York
U. P. Hedrick
The Downs escarpment was set with gigantic slow-moving wind-wheels.
When the Sleeper Wakes
Herbert George Wells

British Dictionary definitions for escarpment

escarpment

noun

the long continuous steep face of a ridge or plateau formed by erosion; scarp
any steep slope, such as one resulting from faulting

a steep artificial slope immediately in front of the rampart of a fortified place

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 escarpment

1802, from French escarpment, from escarper "make into a steep slope," from escarpe "slope," from Italian scarpa (see scarp). Earlier in same sense was escarp.

escarpment in Science

escarpment

[ĭ-skärp′mənt]

A steep slope or long cliff formed by erosion or by vertical movement of the Earth's crust along a fault. Escarpments separate two relatively level areas of land. The term is often used interchangeably with scarp but is more accurately associated with cliffs produced by erosional processes rather than those produced by faulting.