1
as in quakes
a shaking of the earth
the San Andreas Fault is notorious for its earthquakes
Synonyms & Similar Words
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2
as in upheavals
a violent disturbance (as of the political or social order)
the election of the socialist candidate caused a political earthquake that nearly led to a military coup
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Recent Examples of earthquakes
It is estimated that there are 500,000 detectable earthquakes in the world each year.
—
Ca Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 6 Sep. 2025
However, large earthquakes can strike on active faults thousands of years apart.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2025
The Plowshare Project dreamt up idealistic, peacetime applications, such as reversing the course of rivers, triggering small earthquakes to prevent large ones from forming, flooding desserts, and, above all, snaking out a Central American canal with fewer vulnerabilities.
—Shoshi Parks, Popular Science, 14 Aug. 2025
Methane flux in these environments changes with earthquakes, currents, and seasonal cycles; a single measurement won’t reveal the full pattern.
—Ingmar Rentzhog, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
The National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia, also received reports of what felt like earthquakes, but was most likely sonic booms, a quick, thunder-like sound that is created when aircraft, like rockets and planes, go faster than the speed of sound.
—Julia Gomez, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2025
This can include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, among other weather events, and opens the door to a wide range of federal assistance programs.
—Anna Kleiber, jsonline.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Turkey sits on major fault lines, making earthquakes frequent throughout the country.
—Hollie Silverman
adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Aug. 2025
Ca Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 6 Sep. 2025
However, large earthquakes can strike on active faults thousands of years apart.
—Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 15 Aug. 2025
The Plowshare Project dreamt up idealistic, peacetime applications, such as reversing the course of rivers, triggering small earthquakes to prevent large ones from forming, flooding desserts, and, above all, snaking out a Central American canal with fewer vulnerabilities.
—Shoshi Parks, Popular Science, 14 Aug. 2025
Methane flux in these environments changes with earthquakes, currents, and seasonal cycles; a single measurement won’t reveal the full pattern.
—Ingmar Rentzhog, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
The National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia, also received reports of what felt like earthquakes, but was most likely sonic booms, a quick, thunder-like sound that is created when aircraft, like rockets and planes, go faster than the speed of sound.
—Julia Gomez, USA Today, 12 Aug. 2025
This can include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, among other weather events, and opens the door to a wide range of federal assistance programs.
—Anna Kleiber, jsonline.com, 12 Aug. 2025
Turkey sits on major fault lines, making earthquakes frequent throughout the country.
—Hollie Silverman
adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for earthquakes
Noun
-
The two initial quakes flattened villages in both provinces, destroying more than 6,700 homes, and rescue workers pulled bodies from the rubble on Thursday.—
Mohammad Yunus Yawar,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
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The death toll for each of those quakes rose to over 1,000 people, local officials said in their aftermaths.—
Morgan Winsor,
ABC News,
2 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Not only have students been impacted by political upheavals in higher education, but faculty members have faced an unpredictable professional landscape as well.—
Christopher Rim,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
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The drama about a Turkish college professor facing major upheavals on two home fronts bowed at Sundance and stars Ekin Koc, Erkan Kolçak Kostendil, Hazar Erguclu and Ercan Kesal.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
26 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Residents of the Nurgal district of Kunar have left their homes to live in tents, on the surrounding high land near a river, or in the open, for fear of more tremors.—
Mohammad Yunus Yawar,
USA Today,
5 Sep. 2025
-
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects movement, leading to tremors, stiffness, slow gait, balance issues and other symptoms.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
4 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Kurzweil’s singularity parallels ideas from Italian and Russian futurists amid the electrical and mechanical revolutions that took place at the turn of the 20th century.—
Sonja Fritzsche,
The Conversation,
9 Sep. 2025
-
In particular, revolutions like special relativity and general relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, and the Big Bang and cosmic inflation completely overthrew our prior picture of how things actually behave.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
5 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Earthquakes.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/earthquakes. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.
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