fjord
Americannoun
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fjords
plural
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a long, narrow arm of the sea bordered by steep cliffs: usually formed by glacial erosion.
-
(in Scandinavia) a bay.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of fjord
From Norwegian; see origin at firth
Explanation
A fjord is a long, narrow strip of sea that falls between tall cliffs. If you’re traveling in Norway you might be amazed by the rocky cliffs surrounding the deep water of a fjord. A fjord is formed when a slow moving glacier carves out a valley in the earth that then becomes flooded by ocean water. Tall cliffs surrounding a narrow band of water make fjords look very dramatic. Fjords are common in countries like Norway, Iceland, and Greenland. The word fjord gets its looks from its Norwegian origins. Pronounce this funny looking word with a long “e” sound and the accent on the first syllable: “FEE-ord.”
Vocabulary lists containing fjord
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Boy: Tales of Childhood
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Physical Geography - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some thicker icebergs that break from tidewater glaciers without floating ice shelf extensions can scrape along the seabed or become grounded inside a fjord.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
And the team’s official World Cup photo features the players dressed as Nordic warriors, weapons in hand, posed before a scenic fjord with long boats in the background.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
The sheer power of that amount of rock plunging into the fjord in under a minute created a gigantic wave almost 500 metres tall.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
This was followed by a four-hour trip by fishing boat to the entrance of the fjord, before a final dogsled to the base.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 11, 2026
The exciting new boat made it possible for us to go much farther afield, and every day we would travel far out into the fjord, hunting for a different island.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
Summer is the busiest time of year for iceberg activity in Greenland's glacier-fed fjords, and 2026 delivered a particularly dramatic example.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Norwegian salmon producer Mowi was hit in 2016 after warm water in Chilean fjords caused algal blooms that asphyxiated millions of fish.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026
Freshwater from melting glaciers in East Greenland's spectacular fjords and its coastal shelf contribute to two major Arctic currents.
From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026
The resulting images capture mountains and fjords dissolving into sky, rendered in the deep azure light of the Arctic Circle.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2026
But most of Greenland is covered by an ice cap, and even the two most favorable coastal fjords were marginal for Norse food production.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
