cartography

noun

car·​tog·​ra·​phy kär-ˈtä-grə-fē How to pronounce cartography (audio)
: the science or art of making maps
cartographic adjective
or less commonly cartographical
cartographically adverb

Examples of cartography in a Sentence

She studied cartography in college.
Recent Examples on the Web During that time, the troops learn everything from marksmanship and cartography to radios and engineering. Siobhán O'Grady and Kostiantyn Khudov, Anchorage Daily News, 11 Apr. 2023 The principal focus would be cartography, with the work to be carried out in terrain utterly unknown to either science or geography. Larry Rohter, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2023 The Federal Communications Commission has finally given its broadband map a needed upgrade, but bug fixes are still coming for that agency’s cartography of connectivity. Rob Pegoraro, USA TODAY, 3 Feb. 2023 FRBs could give us a big leg up in our cosmic cartography efforts. Duncan Lorimer, Scientific American, 1 Apr. 2018 India on Monday ended restrictions on cartography and geospatial information to help local entities generate, distribute and store topographical data, a move that will help the nation spur infrastructure development and improve delivery of government services. Bibhudatta Pradhan, Bloomberg.com, 15 Feb. 2021 Although graph coloring started with a question in cartography, problems having nothing to do with maps or colors can also fit into the graph-coloring framework. Quanta Magazine, 29 Mar. 2023 Da Vinci also dedicated his time to science, math, architecture, design, engineering, geology, cartography, sculpting and drawing. Rachel Trent, CNN, 18 July 2021 Declarations of intent to run for the US presidency have a special kind of cartography. Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 9 Apr. 2020 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cartography.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

French cartographie, from carte card, map + -graphie -graphy — more at card entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1847, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of cartography was circa 1847

Dictionary Entries Near cartography

Cite this Entry

“Cartography.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cartography. Accessed 22 Sep. 2023.

Kids Definition

cartography

noun
car·​tog·​ra·​phy kär-ˈtäg-rə-fē How to pronounce cartography (audio)
: the making of maps
cartographic adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on cartography

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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