1
: the inner side of a ditch below the parapet of a fortification
2
a
: a line of cliffs produced by faulting or erosion see fault illustration
b
: a low steep slope along a beach caused by wave erosion
Examples of scarp in a Sentence
years of violent ocean storms had heavily eroded the beach, creating a scarp along one end of it
Recent Examples on the Web
The rupturing fault created an approximately 20 meters (or 65 feet) high new scarp on the seafloor, which in turns caused the water displacement and a series of six tsunami moving both east towards Sumatra, and west towards Sri Lanka, India and Africa—eventually reaching the Atlantic and Pacific.
—
David Bressan, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
Surrounding that is the environmental protective garment (EPG), the heavy, visible, outer covering of the suit that protects the astronauts from cuts and punctures on a lunar terrain that bristles with jagged rocks and scarps.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
The Juno mission, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, has been studying Europa more closely still, documenting ice walls, scarps, and ridges, all suggestive of a surface in constant motion.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024
The Racehorse Creek area is home to 50-million-year-old leaf fossils, and ancient landslide, and a modern landslide that created a 90-foot scarp in 2009, the state Department of National Resources says in a primer on the area.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2024
Fault scarps are essentially breaks in the ground that are evidence of past earthquakes.
—Denise Chow, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2023
Shaded relief maps based on lidar data and showing fault scarps in Paradise Valley, Montana.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 28 Nov. 2023
After receiving Mastcam-Z images of the scarp and SuperCam RMI to provide a more detailed view of the scarp, SuperCam principal investigator Roger Wiens said the images showed there had been a large flash flooding event that occurred, washing boulders down into the delta formation.
—Julia Musto, Fox News, 25 Sep. 2021
After 14 hours, the waves had carved a small cliff face called a scarp.
—Byerik Stokstad, science.org, 15 June 2023
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David Bressan, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
Surrounding that is the environmental protective garment (EPG), the heavy, visible, outer covering of the suit that protects the astronauts from cuts and punctures on a lunar terrain that bristles with jagged rocks and scarps.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
The Juno mission, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, has been studying Europa more closely still, documenting ice walls, scarps, and ridges, all suggestive of a surface in constant motion.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 4 Oct. 2024
The Racehorse Creek area is home to 50-million-year-old leaf fossils, and ancient landslide, and a modern landslide that created a 90-foot scarp in 2009, the state Department of National Resources says in a primer on the area.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2024
Fault scarps are essentially breaks in the ground that are evidence of past earthquakes.
—Denise Chow, NBC News, 29 Nov. 2023
Shaded relief maps based on lidar data and showing fault scarps in Paradise Valley, Montana.
—Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 28 Nov. 2023
After receiving Mastcam-Z images of the scarp and SuperCam RMI to provide a more detailed view of the scarp, SuperCam principal investigator Roger Wiens said the images showed there had been a large flash flooding event that occurred, washing boulders down into the delta formation.
—Julia Musto, Fox News, 25 Sep. 2021
After 14 hours, the waves had carved a small cliff face called a scarp.
—Byerik Stokstad, science.org, 15 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Scarp.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scarp. Accessed 20 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
scarp
noun1
: a line of cliffs produced by faulting or erosion
2
: a low steep slope along a beach caused by wave erosion
scarped
adjective
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