geothermal
adjective
Did you know?
Geothermal comes partly from the Greek thermos, "hot". Most geothermal electricity is provided by power plants situated in areas where there is significant activity of the Earth's great tectonic plates—often the same areas where volcanoes are found. But hot water from deep underground may be used by cities far from volcanoes to heat buildings or sidewalks. And a newer source of geothermal energy relies on a less dramatic kind of heat: Individual homeowners can now install heat pumps that take advantage of the 50°-60° temperature of the soil near the surface to provide heating in cold weather (and air-conditioning in the warm months). These very small-scale geothermal systems may eventually supply more useful energy than the large power plants.
Examples of geothermal in a Sentence
Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 27 Sep. 2025
Mining and geothermal operations release wastewater containing valuable elements such as cobalt, but current extraction methods are too costly.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 24 Sep. 2025
Its software had to be taught not to report steam from the Geysers geothermal fields in Sonoma County.
—Paul Rogers, Boston Herald, 23 Sep. 2025
The plan to tap geothermal energy answered the key question of power provision, getting around Africa’s chronically weak grids with the green, baseload electricity required for digital infrastructure.
—Alexis Akwagyiram, semafor.com, 22 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for geothermal
Cite this Entry
“Geothermal.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/geothermal. Accessed 4 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
geothermal
adjective
Share