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geologic time

American  

noun

  1. the succession of eras, periods, and epochs as considered in historical geology.


geologic time Scientific  
/ jē′ə-lŏj′ĭk /
  1. The period of time covering the formation and development of the Earth, from about 4.6 billion years ago to today.


Etymology

Origin of geologic time

First recorded in 1860–65


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:

"The vast number of fossil whale falls documented, including a new species of beaked whale, is truly amazing and is of major importance to understanding whale evolution and whale distributions over geologic time," he said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

"This trait only changes after really long periods of geologic time," says O'Connor.

From Science Daily ● Feb. 12, 2024

Given his anguish about America’s deploying his nuclear weapon in 1945, I suspect “Oppie” would also agonize about his ownership of our current geologic time period.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2023

In the geologic time scale, humans barely exist for the span of a breath and, for most of us, that's just long enough to be born into a cruel world and suffer its grief.

From Salon ● Aug. 27, 2023

For these are the last remaining members of a race that flourished over four continents as far back in geologic time as the upper Jurassic period.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

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