topography

noun to·pog·ra·phy \ tə-ˈpä-grə-fē \

|Updated on: 14 Jun 2018

Examples: topography in a Sentence

Definition of topography

1 a : the art or practice of graphic delineation in detail usually on maps or charts of natural and man-made features of a place or region especially in a way to show their relative positions and elevations

b : topographical surveying

2 a : the configuration of a surface including its relief and the position of its natural and man-made features

b : the physical or natural features of an object or entity and their structural relationships

the topography of human chromosomes

the political topography of our time

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Examples of topography in a Sentence

a map of the topography of the coastline shows a significant loss of wetlands

Recent Examples of topography from the Web

That challenging topography can be turned into an asset for Angels Landing, architect Glenn Rescalvo of Handel Architects said.

— roger vincent, latimes.com, "Condos, restaurants, an elementary school. How an 80-story skyscraper could transform Bunker Hill," 30 May 2018
That 1-in-1,000 doesn't take into account the topography of the area.

— john bacon, USA TODAY, "Why a 1-in-1,000-year rain event devastated Ellicott City, Maryland — again," 28 May 2018
These are the latest conclusions of a detailed mapping project exploring the topography of the seafloor and bedrock around and beneath Greenland's glaciers.

— chelsea harvey, Scientific American, "New Maps Show How Greenland’s Ice Sheet Is Melting from the Bottom Up," 6 Nov. 2017
Near the factory, at the northern end of Bladen County, the Cape Fear is barely a ripple in the topography, just a muddy ribbon cutting between farms and timber and small towns.

— ken otterbourg, Fortune, "Teflon’s River of Fear," 24 May 2018
Computers can forecast paths of flow from topography, but not speed or how wide the flow will be.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "The Implacable Power of Volcanic Lava," 10 May 2018
The vast playground varies in topography, with flat nets giving way to inclines and inclines leading to domes where people can lay down and look up at the trees.

— liz stinson, Curbed, "Incredible sea of nets lets you walk among tree branches," 4 Apr. 2018
To be a good skier requires balance, rhythm and an animal-like ability to respond to constant variations in topography and snow conditions.

— New York Times, "The 2.4.18 Issue," 16 Feb. 2018
The multilevel topography has now been completely smoothed out to create a flexible surface, not unlike the one across the street at Dilworth Park.

— inga saffron, Philly.com, "Love Park was supposed to be the People's Park. How did it end up as a granite Sahara?," 26 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'topography.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Topography combines top- with graph-, a root meaning "write" or "describe". The topography of the Sahara Desert features shifting sand dunes and dry, rocky mountains. A topographic (or topo) map not only shows the surface features of a region but also indicates the contours and approximate altitude of every location, by means of numerous curving lines, each indicating a single elevation. In other words, it shows a "three-dimensional" picture on a two-dimensional surface. Topo maps are commonly used by hikers, surveyors, government workers, and engineers, among other people.

Origin and Etymology of topography

Middle English topographie, from Late Latin topographia, from Greek, from topographein to describe a place, from topos place + graphein to write — more at carve

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

topography Synonyms

Synonyms

geography, geomorphology, landscape, terrain;

Related Words

scenery;

ground, land, landform, terrane, terrene;

Other Cartography Terms

Robinson projection, benchmark, plat, projection

TOPOGRAPHY Defined for English Language Learners

topography

noun

Definition of topography for English Language Learners

: the art or science of making maps that show the height, shape, etc., of the land in a particular area
: the features (such as mountains and rivers) in an area of land