seismologist
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of seismologist
First recorded in 1855–60; seismolog(y) ( def. ) + -ist ( def. )
Explanation
A scientist who studies earthquakes is called a seismologist. If you're fascinated by tectonic plates, tsunamis, and everything else earthquake-related, you might want to become a seismologist. A seismologist is an expert in seismology, or the study of earthquakes. Both words are rooted in the Greek seismos, or "a shaking," and seismologists study the factors that lead to the extreme shaking caused by quakes. These scientists also investigate related events, like volcanic eruptions, connected with movements of the earth's crust and shifting tectonic plates, and predict when and where future earthquakes will occur.
Vocabulary lists containing seismologist
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Geology - Middle School
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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.
Turkish seismologist Süleyman Nalbant led a recently published study concluding that stress had been loading for over two centuries on the fault responsible for the initial quake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
“This is one of the very damaging earthquakes, because you combined a very large event with residences of a lot of people,” seismologist Lucy Jones, a Caltech research associate, said at a briefing Wednesday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
"We have our earthquake machine... Now we have to play with the parameters," said Frederic Massin, a French seismologist and technical expert, as he studied his screen for clues to what had caused the outage.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
Benjamin Fernando, a seismologist and planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University, happened to be in an Ohio city during the event.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 18, 2026
“We don’t know what we can’t detect,” said Seth Moran, chief seismologist at the CVO.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
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.
