continental drift

noun

: a slow movement of the continents on a deep-seated viscous zone within the earth compare plate tectonics

Examples of continental drift in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For now, the speed at which Greenland’s ice sheet is melting doesn’t appear to be increasing the rate of the planet’s continental drift. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 23 Apr. 2025

Melting glaciers in North America 10,000 years ago may have given continental drift a bit of a push. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 23 Apr. 2025

After hundreds of millions of years of isolation from each other, North and South America were once again pushed close enough by continental drift to allow living things to venture from one landmass to the other. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2025

Author’s note: Wegener was an early proponent of continental drift—a theory initially met with resistance. —Daniel Galef, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for continental drift

• adrift
• airlift
• facelift
• festschrift
• forklift
• gearshift
• makeshift
• redshift
• sealift
• snowdrift
• spendthrift
• clift

Kids Definition

continental drift

noun

: the slow movement of the continents on a fluid layer that extends to deep within the earth