geological timescale

British

noun

any division of geological time into chronological units, whether relative (with units in the correct temporal sequence) or absolute (with numerical ages attached)

"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

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.

"On a geological timescale, this is very rapid erosion."

From BBC • May 27, 2025

"On a geological timescale ice sheets have come and gone, but on a human timescale if we lose them we can basically consider them gone forever."

From Salon • Mar. 18, 2024

Movement of rivers, mountains, oceans and sediment nutrients at the geological timescale are the central drivers of Earth's biodiversity, new research published today in Nature has revealed.

From Science Daily • Nov. 29, 2023

It warmed the planet rapidly on a geological timescale, although it was nowhere near the rapidity of what we’re doing today.

From Scientific American • Sep. 26, 2023

Finney only decided to look at the Anthropocene in detail after he began getting comments from people who thought it was now an official part of the geological timescale.

From The Guardian • May 30, 2019

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023