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 In a broad political sense, Mr. Trump’s handling of the coronavirus has clearly driven away swarms of older voters, traditionally the Republican Party’s most bedrock constituency, who polls now show overwhelmingly support Joe Biden. — Mark Leibovich, New York Times, "Trump Has Called His Supporters ‘Disgusting.’ Do They Care?," 10 Oct. 2020 Much of the greater LA area is built on a giant pit of sand and debris that extends 30,000 feet down at its deepest point before hitting solid bedrock. — Eric Niiler, Wired, "The Most Sway-Prone Buildings in LA Aren’t Where You Expect," 9 Oct. 2020 By drastically reducing the number of columns that come to the ground, this structural tour de force allows the tower’s caissons to reach bedrock without hitting the remaining caissons of the old Morton Salt building. — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, "Column: City’s tallest office building in 30 years opens along Chicago River, mixing drama and banality," 9 Oct. 2020 Some may question their own bedrock beliefs about the role of faith and science. — Editorial Board Star Tribune, Star Tribune, "Politics can wait after Trump diagnosis," 2 Oct. 2020 But as piqued as tensions were, Cameron radiated confidence and a bedrock belief in the rectitude of the law. — Washington Post, "Ky. attorney general on Breonna Taylor’s case: ‘I understand as a Black man,’ but acting on outrage ‘is no justice’," 23 Sep. 2020 All three formed the bedrock of the business base for the entertainment district. — Kenneth R. Gosselin, courant.com, "As Hartford’s entertainment district on Front Street struggles, business owners and customers wait for the pandemic to subside," 21 Sep. 2020 She herself was born in a shack behind the plot—hardly a shack even, a tent made of tarpaulin held up with bamboo poles—the bedrock of her life. — Buku Sarkar, The New York Review of Books, "Sharmila, the Chaiwalla, and Me," 14 Sep. 2020 The farm sits on bedrock that’s cracked and water soluble and therefore potentially extra environmentally sensitive. — Adam Belz, Star Tribune, "Battle over southeast Minnesota dairy expansion drags on," 6 Oct. 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

21 Oct 2020

Cite this Entry

“Bedrock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bedrock. Accessed 30 Oct. 2020.

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