Pangaea

or Pan·ge·a

[ pan-jee-uh ]

/ pænˈdʒi ə /

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noun Geology.

the hypothetical landmass that existed when all continents were joined, from about 300 to 200 million years ago.

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Compare supercontinent.

Origin of Pangaea

1920–25; pan- + Greek gaîa earth; allegedly coined by German meteorologist Alfred L. Wegener (1880–1930)

Words nearby Pangaea

pan-fried potatoes, pan-fry, panful, pang, panga, Pangaea, pangender, pangenesis, Pan-Germanism, Pang-fou, Pangloss

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use Pangaea in a sentence

By the emergence of the Cretaceous Period, Pangaea had completely splintered into separate continents and islands.
Explainer: The age of dinosaurs|Beth Geiger|December 3, 2021|Science News For Students
Several hundred million years ago, during the time when Earth had a single supercontinent called Pangaea, ancient plants endured a punishing ice age.
Fossilized plants give us hints about what ice age forests may have looked like|Kate Baggaley|October 13, 2021|Popular-Science
Based on the environmental and anatomical constraints they identified, the team found that plants probably could have grown in many places across Pangaea.
Fossilized plants give us hints about what ice age forests may have looked like|Kate Baggaley|October 13, 2021|Popular-Science
A new analysis based on fossilized plants and climate models indicates that these frigid conditions would have limited tree cover across Pangaea.
Fossilized plants give us hints about what ice age forests may have looked like|Kate Baggaley|October 13, 2021|Popular-Science

More research is also needed on the poorly-understood topography of Pangaea, which is another important variable that would have influenced forest cover and climate during the ice age, he adds.
Fossilized plants give us hints about what ice age forests may have looked like|Kate Baggaley|October 13, 2021|Popular-Science
This happens again and again in Pangaea: the seemingly playful signifies something else unequivocally serious and real.
Saatchi Resurrects Ancient Pangaea with Show Featuring South American and African Artists|Chloë Ashby|April 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST

British Dictionary definitions for Pangaea

Pangaea

Pangea

/ (pænˈdʒiːə) /

noun

the ancient supercontinent, comprising all the present continents joined together, which began to break up about 200 million years agoSee also Laurasia, Gondwanaland

Word Origin for Pangaea

C20: from Greek, literally: all-earth

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Pangaea

Pangaea

[ păn-jē′ə ]

A supercontinent made up of all the world's present landmasses joined together in the configuration they are thought to have had during the Permian and Triassic Periods. According to the theory of plate tectonics, Pangaea later broke up into Laurasia and Gondwanaland, which eventually broke up into the continents we know today.

Cultural definitions for Pangaea

Pangaea

[ (pan-jee-uh) ]

A former “supercontinent” on the Earth. In the distant past a large landmass, Pangaea, included all the present continents, which broke up and drifted apart. (See plate tectonics.)