outcrop
Americannoun
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Geology.
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a cropping out, as of a stratum or vein at the surface of the earth.
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the exposed portion of such a stratum or vein.
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something that emerges suddenly or violently in the manner of an outcrop; outbreak.
an outcrop of student demonstrations.
verb (used without object)
noun
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part of a rock formation or mineral vein that appears at the surface of the earth
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an emergence; appearance
verb
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(of rock strata, mineral veins, etc) to protrude through the surface of the earth
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another word for crop out
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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outcropsimple
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outcropssimple
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have outcroppedperfect
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has outcroppedperfect
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am outcroppingprogressive
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are outcroppingprogressive
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is outcroppingprogressive
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have been outcroppingperfect progressive
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has been outcroppingperfect progressive
Past
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outcroppedsimple
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had outcroppedperfect
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was outcroppingprogressive
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were outcroppingprogressive
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had been outcroppingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of outcrop
First recorded in 1760–70; noun use of verb phrase crop out
Explanation
An outcrop is an area of land where the underlying rocks are exposed. You can see many rocky outcrops throughout Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The term outcrop and the alternative outcropping come from the "head or sprout" meaning of crop, from the idea of seeing the "head" of the rock below. Most of the earth's land surface is covered with soil and plants, but in areas where erosion has worn these away, you can see outcrops of the bedrock beneath. These outcrops can be low, flat sheets of rock, or taller rocky expanses along the edges of mountain ridges.
Vocabulary lists containing outcrop
Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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Uglies
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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.
See Examples For:
A passenger from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship is in quarantine on tiny Pitcairn Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty.
From Barron's ● May 15, 2026
During a visit in early 2025, they explored a small outcrop of rock formed in the early Cretaceous Period.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026
Literally the answer must be no: Any stories they tell are scientific interpretations of minerals, fossils, isotopes and other features, whether from a geology laboratory or rock outcrop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
An accompanying conservation plan would convey the 30-acre rocky outcrop that hosts the Quercus palmeri , or Palmer’s oak, to a Native tribe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2024
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Mara running toward a rocky outcrop, and Smithy to another one next to her.
From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri
Rattlesnakes like to hide in complex rocky outcrops, tall grass and squirrel burrows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 1, 2026
A particular pressure point is a cluster of uninhabited outcrops Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
Nationalist sentiment is also growing in the Philippines, as its dispute with China over reefs and outcrops in the South China Sea continue to fester.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2024
In 2019 and 2022, the group traveled to New Zealand's North Island to collect rocks from several outcrops near the Hikurangi Margin.
From Science Daily ● May 7, 2024
Across the Missouri on the Mandan side, it is pure west, with brown grass and water scorings and small outcrops.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
The Nanushuk Formation is an outcropped layer of sedimentary rock 800 to 5,000 feet thick across the central and western North Slope.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024
As the going became stiffer, the rock outcropped and the dust settled.
From Partners of Chance by Knibbs, Henry Herbert
Strange's notes were incomplete; and although Thirlwell calculated that he was about thirty miles from the spot where the ore outcropped, he had found none of the landmarks.
From The Lure of the North by Bindloss, Harold
It had manifested itself where a stratum of clean white sand, underlaid with clay, outcropped at the foot of a high bank.
From Flowing Gold by Beach, Rex Ellingwood
Forced to become an underwriter at Lloyd's he had regained prosperity before his artistic talent had outcropped.
From To Let by Galsworthy, John
The Sunshine mine dates back to 1884, when two homesteading brothers spotted an outcropping and staked claim.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
Let’s say you’re out on some rugged outcropping and you need to jump on your jackhammer for a few minutes.
From Slate ● Jul. 18, 2024
On that day 20 years ago, he was killed by friendly fire at a rocky outcropping in a place called Spera, Afghanistan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2024
It is a six-acre, dome-shaped outcropping that is tricky to reach and even trickier to explore.
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2023
Seth leaped from a stone outcropping into the swimming pool, legs curled up, and hit the water with a big splash.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
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.
