volcano

noun

vol·ca·no | \ väl-ˈkā-(ˌ)nō,

vȯl-\

plural volcanoes or volcanos

Definition of volcano

1 : a vent in the crust of the earth or another planet or a moon from which usually molten or hot rock and steam issue also : a hill or mountain composed wholly or in part of the ejected material

2 : something of explosively violent potential

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Examples of volcano in a Sentence

The volcano last erupted 25 years ago. beset by prolonged heat and lingering racial tension, the city was like a seething volcano

Recent Examples on the Web

The devastation left in the volcano's wake is palpable in the time-lapse imagery released by officials at the European Space Agency (ESA) on June 8. — Doris Elin Salazar, Space.com, "See Lava Flows from Hawaii's Kilauea Change Paths in New Satellite Photos," 12 June 2018 Officials said Saturday the volcano’s smaller size makes the chance of another large collapse unlikely. — Jake Maxwell Watts, WSJ, "Indonesia’s Volatile Child of Krakatau Collapsed, but Now It’s More Explosive," 29 Dec. 2018 On December 22nd, the Anak Krakatau volcano partially collapsed near Indonesia's Sunda Strait region. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Devastating Tsunami Threatens Endangered Rhinos," 28 Dec. 2018 Snowcapped green mountains, black sand beaches, and steaming volcanoes make up the scenery, along with strikingly diverse wildlife, from sea lions to brown bears to majestic Steller’s sea eagles. — Klara Glowczewska, Town & Country, "The Best Places to Travel in 2019," 7 Dec. 2018 With volcano imagery, for example, Chien said, JPL had trained the machine-learning software to recognize volcanic eruptions from spectral and image data. — Alyson Behr, Ars Technica, "NASA’s next Mars rover will use AI to be a better science partner," 6 Dec. 2018 Plate tectonics are responsible for much of the geologic activity on Earth, generating the energy for earthquakes and volcanoes. — Brian Resnick, Vox, "NASA is landing on Mars for the first time since 2012. You can watch!," 23 Nov. 2018 If the Yellowstone super volcano were to blow, and if the eruption resembled the big ones that occurred hundreds of thousands of years ago, the resulting far-flung ash spewing out could devastate the U.S., Live Science reported. — Fox News, "Quakes and eruptions spark talks of Yellowstone supervolcano," 2 Oct. 2018 The giant volcanoes of Hawaii's Big Island held a special place for the Polynesians who first settled there, with the peak of Mauna Kea being reserved for that society's elite. — John Timmer, Ars Technica, "Hawaiian Supreme Court gives go-ahead to giant telescope," 1 Nov. 2018

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