escarpment

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Related to Escarpments: incongruously, contumacious, scarp face

es·carp·ment

 (ĭ-skärp′mənt)
n.
1. A steep slope or long cliff that results from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.
2. A steep slope in front of a fortification.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

escarpment

(ɪˈskɑːpmənt)
n
1. (Physical Geography)
a. the long continuous steep face of a ridge or plateau formed by erosion; scarp
b. any steep slope, such as one resulting from faulting
2. (Fortifications) a steep artificial slope immediately in front of the rampart of a fortified place
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

es•carp•ment

(ɪˈskɑrp mənt)

n.
1. a long, precipitous, clifflike ridge of land, rock, or the like commonly formed by faulting or fracturing of the earth's crust.
2. ground cut into an escarp around a fortification or defensive position.
[1795–1805; < French escarpement. See escarp, -ment]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

es·carp·ment

(ĭ-skärp′mənt)
A steep slope or long cliff formed by erosion or by vertical movement of the Earth's crust along a fault.
The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

escarpment

, scarp, palisade(s) - A cliff formation or line of cliffs can be called an escarpment, scarp (from Italian scarpa, "slope"), or palisade(s).
See also related terms for slope.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.escarpment - a long steep slope or cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge; usually formed by erosion
incline, slope, side - an elevated geological formation; "he climbed the steep slope"; "the house was built on the side of a mountain"
2.escarpment - a steep artificial slope in front of a fortification
fortification, munition - defensive structure consisting of walls or mounds built around a stronghold to strengthen it
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
Abbruchkante

escarpment

[ɪsˈkɑːpmənt] Nescarpa f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

escarpment

[ɪˈskɑːrpmənt] nescarpement m
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

escarpment

nSteilhang m; (Geol) → Schichtstufe f; (as fortification) → Böschung f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

escarpment

[ɪsˈkɑːpmənt] nscarpata
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
References in classic literature ?
The circumference of Copernicus formed almost a perfect circle, and its steep escarpments were clearly defined.
The traveller from the coast, who, after plodding northward for a score of miles over calcareous downs and corn-lands, suddenly reaches the verge of one of these escarpments, is surprised and delighted to behold, extended like a map beneath him, a country differing absolutely from that which he has passed through.
Yet it is an admirable lesson to stand on the North Downs and to look at the distant South Downs; for, remembering that at no great distance to the west the northern and southern escarpments meet and close, one can safely picture to oneself the great dome of rocks which must have covered up the Weald within so limited a period as since the latter part of the Chalk formation.
At last, after what seemed months, and may, I now realize, have been years, we came in sight of the dun escarpment which buttressed the foothills of Sari.
My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, the faintest indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment.
There the basalt cliffs of the outside were reproduced upon the inside, forming an escarpment about two hundred feet high, with a woody slope beneath it.
When standing in the middle of one of these desert plains and looking towards the interior, the view is generally bounded by the escarpment of another plain, rather higher, but equally level and desolate; and in every other direction the horizon is indistinct from the trembling mirage which seems to rise from the heated surface.
The cliff-tops, though ragged, were of such uniform height as to suggest the boundaries of a great plateau, and now and again we caught glimpses of verdure topping the rocky escarpment, as though bush or jungle-land had pushed outward from a lush vegetation farther inland to signal to an unseeing world that Caprona lived and joyed in life beyond her austere and repellent coast.
I dived close to the cliffs and skirted them for several miles without finding the least indication of a suitable landing-place; and then I swung back at a lower level, looking for a clearing close to the bottom of the mighty escarpment; but I could find none of sufficient area to insure safety.
On September twelfth the party scaled a line of sandstone cliffs which crossed their route toward the south; but they crossed them only after an encounter with the tribe that inhabited the numerous caves which pitted the face of the escarpment. That night they camped upon a rocky plateau which was sparsely wooded with jarrah, and here once again they were visited by the weird, nocturnal apparition that had already filled them with a nameless terror.
Residents asked to move as earth cracks emerge along Kerio escarpments
From Guadalcanal to Okinawa, the Japanese employed tactics that took advantage of the terrain; especially reverse slopes and escarpments. It was on one such escarpment--the Maeda Escarpment, a 400-foot high, jagged coral ridge--where Doss would write his name in the history books.