glacier

American  

[gley-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

It was sparked by the partial collapse of a glacier and some of its bedrock.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

The glacier in the area retreated by about 450 metres between 1990 and 2020, exposing rock that had previously been covered by ice.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

Preliminary investigations have pointed to a collapsed glacier and its bedrock as the cause of last week's flash flood.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Instead, the glacier fractured along a different crack.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

The glacier had shifted, just a little, but the movement had split the thick ice below.

From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown

Scientists say glaciers in the Himalayas, the world's highest mountain range, are melting faster as global temperatures rise.

From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026

The future of that strategy has come into question as a warming planet destabilizes Himalayan glaciers and river systems, increasingly putting human lives and billions of dollars at risk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

Iceberg calving is a normal part of the life cycle of outlet glaciers, but scientists monitor these events closely for clues about longer-term signs of instability.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026

But the very glaciers and mountains giving Nepal this massive natural advantage are succumbing to global warming - and last Wednesday's deadly floods have laid bare the risks to the nation's hydropower ambitions.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The first level that Hideo’s committee has created for our game looks like a world of glittering ice and towering glaciers.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

Related Words

• ice floe
• iceberg