supercontinent

noun

su·​per·​con·​ti·​nent ˈsü-pər-ˌkän-tə-nənt How to pronounce supercontinent (audio)
-ˌkänt-nənt
: a hypothetical former large continent from which other continents are held to have broken off and drifted away

Examples of supercontinent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The prehistoric fish are estimated to have lived more than 325 million years ago—predating the Pangea supercontinent, when all the major continents of today were lumped together into one giant landmass. Shi En Kim, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 Feb. 2024 Roughly 1 billion years ago, the Amazon and the Baltics were neighbors on the supercontinent Rodinia. Nancy Walecki, The Atlantic, 25 Sep. 2023 The story goes like this: Around 1.8 billion years ago, two sections of continental crust collided to form a supercontinent, which scientists already knew about and have named Nuna. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 20 Sep. 2023 For most of this time, geology saw Earth's continental plates assembled into a supercontinent, which helped support a seemingly stable climate. John Timmer, Ars Technica, 9 June 2023 During the Late Devonian Period, these areas were submerged coastlines on opposite ends of a vast sea separating northern and southern supercontinents. Jack Tamisiea, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2024 Glossopteris Fossils Support Continental Drift Theory Glossopteris existed from the late Carboniferous Period and throughout the Permian Period — possibly into the very early Triassic Period, when Earth was one supercontinent. Allison Futterman, Discover Magazine, 10 Nov. 2023 Fossils were also key to helping scientists figure out that the world used to be one whole landmass, the supercontinent Pangea, which slowly split up into seven continents. Sofia Quaglia, Discover Magazine, 21 Dec. 2023 The dramatic break up of an ancient supercontinent could be behind the planet’s cache of rare pink diamonds. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 20 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'supercontinent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1960, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of supercontinent was in 1960

Dictionary Entries Near supercontinent

Cite this Entry

“Supercontinent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supercontinent. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

supercontinent

noun
su·​per·​con·​ti·​nent ˈsü-pər-ˌkänt-ᵊn-ənt How to pronounce supercontinent (audio)
-ˌkänt-nənt
: a former large continent which is assumed to have existed and from which other continents broke off and drifted away

More from Merriam-Webster on supercontinent

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