Lyell

American  

[lahy-uhl] / ˈlaɪ əl /

noun

1. Sir Charles, 1797–1875, English geologist.

2. Mount, a mountain in E central California, in Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada. 13,114 feet (3,997 meters).

3. Also Lyall. a mountain on the border of Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, in the Rocky Mountains. 11,520 feet (3,511 meters).

---

Lyell British  

/ ˈlaɪəl /

noun

1. Sir Charles. 1797–1875, Scottish geologist. In Principles of Geology (1830–33) he advanced the theory of uniformitarianism, refuting the doctrine of catastrophism

---

Lyell Scientific  

/ lī′əl /

1. Scottish geologist who is considered one of the founders of modern geology. He is most famous for his principle of uniformitarianism, as first set forth in his three-volume Principles of Geology (1830–1833).

---

Example Sentences

The author documents Tennyson’s reaction to books by the geologist Charles Lyell, the computer pioneer Charles Babbage and the astronomer John Herschel.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026

Lyell, a discriminating reader, responded to Welty’s work with care and precision.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025

Lyell but, in recent years, has spread to communities on the central and eastern slopes of the Sierra, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2025

Lyell shrew, a mouse-like mammal that lives in the central Sierra Nevada, has never been photographed in the 100 years since it was discovered.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 29, 2025

Lyell originally intended to employ "–synchronous" for his endings, giving us such crunchy designations as Meiosynchronous and Pleiosynchronous.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson