escarpmentnoun [ C ]
uk/ɪˈskɑːp.mənt/us/esˈkɑːrp.mənt/a steep slope or cliff, such as one that marks the edge of a range of hills
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Geography: hills & mountains
- alpine
- arête
- Ben
- butte
- cirque
- cliff
- clifftop
- col
- drumlin
- hilltop
- hummock
- incline
- knoll
- mountainous
- Mountains
- mountainside
- orographic
- ridge
- shelf
- upland
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Examples from literature
- A flight of steps cut in the hillside led up to a ledge running out from an escarpment which was something above sixty feet high before giving off into the slope of the mountain.
- Again, if we look to any one line of cliff or escarpment, neither its summit-edge nor its base is horizontal.
- Between the escarpments of the second highest terrace the average width is about four or five miles.
- From the wooded heights of the Hampshire border to that grand headland where the hills find their march arrested by the sea, the escarpment of the Downs is sixty miles long and every mile is beautiful.
- Nevertheless, when I scaled a high escarpment, I could see no volcanoes within a radius of several miles.