subduct
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to take away; subtract.
-
Geology. (of acrustal plate ) to collide with (a denser plate), drawing it down and overriding it, along the juncture of the two plates.
verb (used without object)
verb
-
physiol to draw or turn (the eye, etc) downwards
-
rare to take away; deduct
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of subduct
First recorded in 1550–60; from Latin subductus, past participle of subdūcere “to draw up, withdraw”
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.
The oceanic crust along the coast of the Atlantic is old and heavy, so it is primed to subduct, but before it can do so, it must break and bend.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 15, 2024
Continental tectonic plates, unlike their dense oceanic cousins, are thick and buoyant, so they don’t easily sink, or subduct, into the mantle during collisions.
From Science Magazine ● Jan. 9, 2024
But in eastern Indonesia, where Sulawesi is located, the Indo–Australian Plate is topped by continental crust that does not subduct —so it is simply ramming headlong into the crust of the Eurasian Plate, fracturing it.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 3, 2018
As the mid-ocean ridge itself started to subduct, the relative motion had changed.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017
When one plate hits another and begins to dive downwards — or subduct — it melts and becomes incorporated in the underlying ice, the duo proposes.
From Nature ● Sep. 6, 2014
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.
