hummock
Americannoun
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Also an elevated tract of land rising above the general level of a marshy region.
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a knoll or hillock.
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Also a ridge in an ice field.
noun
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a hillock; knoll
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a ridge or mound of ice in an ice field
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Also called: hammock. a wooded area lying above the level of an adjacent marsh
Other Word Forms
- hummocky adjective
Etymology
Origin of hummock
Explanation
You don't swing in a hummock, you climb one. A hummock is a hill, a mound, or a ridge. This word was once a nautical term describing a hill rising up on a coastline. A hummock is a perfect place for a lighthouse. Today it is either a rounded hill or an elevated place in an ice field. The origin of the word is unknown, but the ending -ock is a diminutive, meaning it gives the noun the sense of being small. That is why a hummock is a knoll and not a mountain.
Vocabulary lists containing hummock
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The Pearl
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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.
We came across Dow Finsterwald standing alone on a hummock overlooking the course.
From Golf Digest • Apr. 9, 2020
It had just been a flash against the silhouette of a shadowy hummock.
From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2019
Skeptically watching their training exercise, he steps on a hummock and is taken aback when the ground below him speaks.
From Washington Post • Aug. 4, 2017
They wanted him to protect Pelican Island, a 5-acre hummock near Vero Beach, Fla., at the mouth of the Indian River.
From Slate • Apr. 19, 2013
Kino moved next to the hummock, and then, beside it, under a little overhang, he saw a very large oyster lying by itself, not covered with its clinging brothers.
From "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck
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.
