ice cap

noun

1

: a cover of perennial ice and snow

specifically : a glacier forming on an extensive area of relatively level land and flowing outward from its center

2

: an ice bag shaped to the head

Examples of ice cap in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As the planet continues to warm, melting ice caps and expanding the volume of sea water, scientists project bay waters will rise nearly another foot by 2050 and 3 feet or more by 2100, depending on how much emissions of fossil fuels rise or fall over the next 75 years worldwide. —Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025

And like our polar ice caps, that ice has yet to thaw. —John Phillips, Oc Register, 17 Sep. 2025

Orbiting observatories provided real-time observations of Earth’s surface, oceans, ice caps and atmosphere that improved models. —Zack Savitsky, Quanta Magazine, 15 Sep. 2025

Though stratospheric aerosol injection over the poles could potentially cool the lower atmosphere atop the ice caps, the study notes that the aerosols could actually the overlying stratosphere—which could disrupt atmospheric circulation, warming Russia in the winter. —Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 11 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1816, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for ice cap

• handicap
• overlap
• thunderclap
• wiretap
• app
• chap
• clap
• crap
• flap
• frap
• gap
• hap

Kids Definition

ice cap

noun

: a large glacier forming on level land and flowing outward from its center