Definition of glacier
:a large body of ice moving slowly down a slope or valley or spreading outward on a land surface
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Recent Examples of glacier from the Web
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Scientists from all over the world have documented warming in the air and water, melting glaciers, disappearing snow, shrinking sea ice and rising sea level.
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Beneath Hanford a massive underground glacier of radioactive sludge is moving slowly, but relentlessly, toward the Columbia River.
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At high altitudes where most glaciers are found, temperatures are rising faster than in the valleys below, with signs pointing to even greater melting in the decades ahead.
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This glacier is 45km from the forest, so the flood in question must have been enormous.
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Yurts made of white felt are creeping steadily up the hillsides, like a glacier in reverse.
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Every one of these mountains, like the state of Maine, all of New England, and much of the continent of North America, has been scoured by glaciers during multiple ice ages of the past.
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According to Rignot, Larsen C holds back around 1 centimeter of global sea level rise in the form of glaciers feeding into the remaining ice shelf.
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Even in summer, Iceland offers snowmobile trips and hiking on glaciers, kayaking outings in majestic fjords and warming soaks in geothermal pools.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'glacier.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of glacier
French, from Middle French dialect (Franco-Provençal), from glace ice, from Latin glacies; akin to Latin gelu frost — more at cold
Other Geology Terms
anthracite, boulder, cwm, erratic, igneous, intrusive, mesa, sedimentary, silt, swale
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See words that rhyme with glacier Spanish Central: Translation of glacier Nglish: Translation of glacier for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of glacier for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about glacier
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