scarp
Americannoun
-
a line of cliffs formed by the faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust; an escarpment.
-
Fortification. an escarp.
verb (used with object)
-
scarps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
scarped,
past participle, past
-
scarping
present participle
noun
-
a steep slope, esp one formed by erosion or faulting; escarpment See also cuesta
-
fortifications the side of a ditch cut nearest to and immediately below a rampart
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
scarpsimple
-
scarpssimple
-
have scarpedperfect
-
has scarpedperfect
-
am scarpingprogressive
-
are scarpingprogressive
-
is scarpingprogressive
-
have been scarpingperfect progressive
-
has been scarpingperfect progressive
Past
-
scarpedsimple
-
had scarpedperfect
-
was scarpingprogressive
-
were scarpingprogressive
-
had been scarpingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of scarp
First recorded in 1580–90, scarp is from the Italian word scarpa a slope. See escarp
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:
Stewart hasn’t visited the site, but said a large head scarp, which marks the top of a landslide, is visible in photos of the area, “indicating substantial movement” that could have ruptured the pipeline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 29, 2025
"The conclusion we came to is: don't build right on top of a scarp, or recently active fault. The farther away from a scarp, the lesser the hazard."
From Science Daily ● Dec. 7, 2025
We should not expect that the thrust fault below each scarp has moved only once.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2023
On the bare dune, a similar scarp formed after nearly 18 hours, but it was less than half the height.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 15, 2023
The Friendship makes a gentle turn and crosses the eastern scarp of the Rift.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
These scarps form when the ground shifts during a fault rupture.
From Science Daily ● May 19, 2026
SMRs form from the same compressional forces that create lobate scarps.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 18, 2026
However, lobate scarps do not explain all of the Moon's relatively recent contraction features.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 18, 2026
“Landslide movement continues to manifest at the ground surface in the form of scarps, fissures, grabens/sinkholes, tensional cracking, shear zones and thrust features,” the city’s latest report said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2024
How many revetments and scarps have I raised?
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
There, where the scarped cliffside reaches the clouds and the water plunges to the depths of the Grand Canyon, sits one of Norway’s most picturesque villages, Geiranger.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 20, 2023
The scenery about the two Loughs Macnean is carved out in similarly scarped hills, rising to 2188 ft. in Cuilcagh on the south.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 3 "Fenton, Edward" to "Finistere" by Various
Mildred sat with her elbow on her knee, looking dreamily at the gray scarped rock and overhanging vegetation; while Olive and Chriss scrambled over the slippery boulders in search of ferns.
From Heriot's Choice A Tale by Rosa Nouchette Carey
Further back were some gravel-pits and a scarped bank, where the Cossacks picketed their horses, and a reserve of ammunition was kept, though it was not altogether safe from the enemy's shells.
From In the Russian Ranks A Soldier's Account of the Fighting in Poland by John Morse
Further strength was given to the position by a stream which cut in between the two heights with deep scarped banks.
From From Manassas to Appomattox Memoirs of The Civil War in America by James Longstreet
The mountain was so steep that our ponies could only ascend by scarping, zigzag fashion.
From By Veldt and Kopje by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
A terrible scarping wind, whose very breath was bitterness to flesh and blood, blatant and unresting, filled the valley with a strange voice and life.
From Heriot's Choice A Tale by Rosa Nouchette Carey
Another feature of the Ziscaberg, already hinted at, is very notable: that of the Moldau skirting its northern base, and scarping the Hill, on that side too, into a precipitous, or very steep condition.
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 18 by Thomas Carlyle
Soon afterwards, however, nothing could be heard except a furious scratching, the sound of metal scarping at the plaster.
From The Fat and the Thin by Ernest Alfred Vizetelly
Already, on the heights of Montmartre, is a digging and delving; too like a scarping and trenching.
From The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
