Mount Vesuvius
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One of its earliest recorded eruptions, in a.d. 79, buried Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae under cinders, ash, and mud.
It is the only active volcano on the mainland of Europe. (Another, Mount Etna, is on the island of Sicily.)
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.
A mechanical artwork first imagined in 1775 to recreate the eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius has been brought to life for the first time, 250 years after it was conceived.
From Science Daily • May 2, 2026
He writes in a wry, amicable style, skillfully layering on his chosen leitmotifs—the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 17, 2025
The fire came within a few feet of the Villa, famously a re-creation of an ancient Roman country home that was buried beneath the huge volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2025
The city was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which preserved swathes of it almost intact under a layer of ash for over 1,000 years.
From BBC • Nov. 9, 2024
In the 1730s and 40s, building work near Naples had accidentally discovered the buried ruins of the first-century Roman towns Herculaneum and Pompeii, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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.
