bedrock

bed·rock | \ ˈbed-ˈräk

How to pronounce bedrock (audio)

, -ˌräk \

Definition of bedrock

(Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the solid rock underlying unconsolidated surface materials (such as soil)

2a : lowest point

bedrock

bed·rock | \ ˈbed-ˌräk

How to pronounce bedrock (audio)

\

Definition of bedrock (Entry 2 of 2)

: solidly fundamental, basic, or reliable traditional bedrock values a bedrock constituency

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Examples of bedrock in a Sentence

Noun They dug down for 10 feet before they hit bedrock. His religious beliefs are the bedrock on which his life is based.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun Rankine adapted their words into the bedrock of Help, in which 19 men fume, deflect, backpedal and sputter though attempts to understand their place in a shifting America. — Andrew R. Chow, Time, "'We Have No Practice Talking About Race in This Country.' Claudia Rankine on White Privilege and Her New Play Help," 6 Mar. 2020 Now a team of Italian and Iraqi Kurdish archaeologists working in northern Iraq have uncovered ten stone reliefs that adorned a sophisticated canal system dug into bedrock. — National Geographic, "'Extremely rare’ Assyrian carvings discovered in Iraq," 17 Jan. 2020 The weather stations are drilled into the bedrock and rated to withstand winds of nearly 240 mph. — Maddie Stone, Anchorage Daily News, "World’s highest weather stations reveal intense sunshine may be melting ice on Mount Everest," 13 Dec. 2019 The Upper Naranjo carves through a slot canyon of bedrock for three miles, offering almost nonstop Class IV whitewater between narrow rock walls. — Outside Online, "The Ultimate Adventure Guide to Costa Rica," 23 Sep. 2019 Scientists are concerned: Thanks to climate change, parts of the Arctic are on fire The north summit's height remains consistent because it is composed of bedrock and isn't covered by ice, Rosqvist explained. — Morgan Hines, USA TODAY, "Sweden's highest peak shrinks, loses tallest status, thanks to a warmer climate," 25 July 2019 That agreement, backed by legislation rushed through the Legislature during the December lame-duck session, said Enbridge would pay to dig a tunnel into bedrock beneath the straits. — Paul Egan, Detroit Free Press, "Whitmer: Shutdown of Enbridge Line 5 appears inevitable amid stalled talks," 19 June 2019 To meet the rushed schedule for the Manhattan Company Building, demolition of the site’s existing 14-story structure and excavation into the 450-million-year-old bedrock occurred simultaneously. — Jonathan Schifman, Popular Mechanics, "A Friendship Turned to Rivalry. A Feud That Changed the New York Skyline.," 27 Mar. 2019 Emotional intimacy is the bedrock of a relationship. — Maria Del Russo, Woman's Day, "5 Ways To Cultivate Emotional Intimacy With Your Partner," 4 May 2020 Recent Examples on the Web: Adjective People with disabilities know bedrock truths most of us ignore. — Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati.com, "Paul Daugherty: This is a time for extraordinary gratitude," 19 May 2020 The American Prairie Reserve’s partial retreat from conservation’s traditional separation of humans and nature—a bedrock principle of conservation for most of the past century—is not just an accommodation. — Christopher Preston, The Atlantic, "Conservationists No Longer Agree on What ‘Wild’ Means," 9 Apr. 2020 One of our nation’s bedrock environmental laws, NEPA mandates inclusion of the public’s voice and environmental reviews in government decision making. — Wes Siler, Outside Online, "DOI Is Using Coronavirus as a Smokescreen," 26 Mar. 2020 Objective news reporting is built on two bedrock principles: report the truth, and don’t pick sides. — Gilad Edelman, Wired, "Should Political Reporters Be Quarantined From Covering Covid-19?," 10 Mar. 2020 Few leagues are rushing to copy those bedrock elements of M.L.S., and that raises the question of whether such an unusually structured league can really hope to join the best in the world, particularly financially. — New York Times, "M.L.S. Hits Two Milestones: 25 Years and 26 Teams," 28 Feb. 2020 But the use of religious freedom as a tool to enable discrimination has become a bedrock principle of the modern conservative movement—and of the Trump Administration. — Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker, "The Right Wing’s War on the L.G.B.T.Q. Community," 19 Sep. 2019 In fact, Profs. Fama and French found that the same goes for an even more bedrock belief of stock-market investors: the notion that equities will outperform riskless T-bills for those who hold them long enough. — Mark Hulbert, WSJ, "Your Fund Performance Is Even More About Luck Than You Thought," 4 Nov. 2018 The President has broad pardon power in the Constitution, but the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel determined in 1974 that a self-pardon would run afoul of bedrock legal principle. — Tessa Berenson, Time, "Donald Trump’s Campaign to Discredit the Russia Investigation May Be Working. It’s Also Damaging American Democracy," 7 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bedrock.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Last Updated

26 May 2020

Cite this Entry

“Bedrock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bedrock. Accessed 6 Jun. 2020.

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