glacier

American  

[glay-sher] / ˈgleɪ ʃər /

noun

• glaciers
  plural

1. 

   an extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.

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glacier British  

/ ˈɡlæsɪə, ˈɡleɪs- /

noun

1. a slowly moving mass of ice originating from an accumulation of snow. It can either spread out from a central mass ( continental glacier ) or descend from a high valley ( alpine glacier )

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glacier Scientific  

/ glā′shər /

1. A large mass of ice moving very slowly through a valley or spreading outward from a center. Glaciers form over many years from packed snow in areas where snow accumulates faster than it melts. A glacier is always moving, but when its forward edge melts faster than the ice behind it advances, the glacier as a whole shrinks backward.

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glacier Cultural  

1. A large mass of ice formed over many years that does not melt during the summer. Glaciers move slowly over an area of land such as a mountain valley.

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Discover More

A significant percentage of the water of the Earth is locked up in glaciers.

Glaciers exist in high mountains throughout the temperate zones and cover most of Antarctica. Glaciers recede during warm periods and can expand during cold periods, creating ice ages.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• glaciered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• glaciers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of glacier

1735–45; < dialectal French, derivative of Old French glace ice < Late Latin glacia (for Latin glaciēs )

Explanation

A glacier is a very large ice mass, sometimes miles and miles long. Glaciers might not seem all that exciting at first, but people are paying close attention to them because their melting is an indication of climate change. Most glaciers on Earth are found around the North and South poles, but every continent except for Australia has glaciers somewhere in its high mountain ranges. People often want to go see glaciers because they're beautiful, and some you can actually hike across. Luckily, if you get thirsty glaciers are the planet’s largest reservoir of freshwater. You’ll just have to find some way of melting them . . .

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

glacier glaciers

The device comes in black, silver, burgundy and glacier, and the smaller model provides up to 24 hours of charge, while the larger phone offers up to 30 hours.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026

Sea levels are rising at a record pace, driven by warming oceans and glacier melt, according to an August UN report.

From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026

The explosion has triggered more movement, with another glacier headed toward Alaska.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

There were multiple factors involved in that event, which was triggered when a large area of bedrock and glacier ice collapsed.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

It was strange because I was alone—my dog handler being with the dogs on the glacier in Juneau—and I kept feeling as though I was being watched.

From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen

The Cryogenian Period began around 720 million years ago, when massive glaciers expanded across the planet during episodes commonly called Snowball Earth.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 7, 2026

Switzerland’s glaciers lost more than 5% of their ice in the past year, typically losing between 8 and 13 feet, after a winter of meager snowfall and summer heatwaves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

The loss of ice could pose long-term challenges, Huss warned, with smaller glaciers unable to top up water levels to the same extent.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

That left glaciers vulnerable to melting even faster in subsequent heatwaves.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Around 13,000 years ago, as glaciers melted rapidly all over the world, conditions in Japan changed spectacularly for the better, as far as humans were concerned.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Related Words

• ice floe
• iceberg