continental shelf

noun

: a shallow submarine plain of varying width forming a border to a continent and typically ending in a comparatively steep slope to the deep ocean floor

Illustration of continental shelf

• 1 seashore
• 2 continental shelf
• 3 continental slope
• 4 abyssal plain
• 5 seamount

Examples of continental shelf in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Informed by models of oceans on Earth, California Institute of Technology geologists Abdallah Zaki and Michael Lamb studied topographic data of Mars taken by orbiters to find a flat band of land like a continental shelf, suggesting an ocean once roiled in the Martian northern hemisphere. —Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 23 Apr. 2026

The continental shelf emerged as the most distinct feature, enduring through time and changing sea levels. —Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 20 Apr. 2026

What visitors don’t see is that just off the western coast, the continental shelf drops off to great depths. —Alan Crawford, Bloomberg, 20 Apr. 2026

Warm air is moving over the still-cool continental shelf waters off the upper Texas Gulf Coast. —Newsroom Meteorologist, Houston Chronicle, 10 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for continental shelf

• bookshelf
• herself
• himself
• hisself
• itself
• meself
• myself
• nonself
• oneself
• thyself
• yourself
• elf

Kids Definition

continental shelf

noun

: a shallow submarine plain of varying width forming a border to a continent and typically ending at the continental slope