crater
crater
Definition
cra·ter (krāt′ər)
noun
- in ancient Greece or Rome, a kind of large bowl or jar shaped like an amphora
- a bowl-shaped cavity, as at the mouth of a volcano or geyser
- a pit resembling this, specif. one caused by a bomb or by the impact of a meteorite, as on the moon
- Astron. a S constellation between Hydra and Corvus
Etymology: L, mixing bowl, mouth of a volcano < Gr kratēr < kerannynai, to mix: see idiosyncrasy
transitive verb
to make craters in
intransitive verb
to form craters
crater
Synonyms
crater
Usage Examples
Object
- terrain: The first image shows a heavily cratered highland terrain with very long shadows cast by crater rims.
Converse of object
- excavate: Alternatively, explosions create cavities, for example, as bombs excavate bomb craters.
- fill: Our feet sounded hollow on the thin plug filling the huge crater.
- flood: The flooded crater of the southernmost island has a resident population of unnaturally large crocodiles.
Preposition: on
- moon: So Jonathan and Ellen have to pick a crater on the moon and measure how big it is.
Adjective modifier
- volcanic: Or maybe walk up to the crest of Gran Canaria's largest volcanic crater with a view to the south coast.
- lunar: He is honored by having a large lunar crater named after him.
- extinct: Its unique harbor was once an inland lake, in an extinct volcanic crater.
- shallow: Mount Macdonald is a shallow crater about ten miles across.
- huge: The horrific blast left a huge crater in the main Belfast to Dublin road.
- enormous: Enormous craters dot the landscape in many regions covering dozens of square miles.
Modifies a noun
- rim: The summit lies a little further along the crater rim to the right.
- lake: In the center is a crater lake about half a mile in diameter.
Noun used with modifier
- meteorite: This is the world's largest and oldest meteorite impact crater.
- meteor: They decide to visit a meteor crater, where their car fails to start leaving them stranded in the middle of the Australian outback.
- asteroid: Fossils and Asteroid Impacts Find out how examining the rocks and fossils around an asteroid impact crater can help us reveal its full effects.
- volcano: I feel like a person living on the brink of a volcano crater.
- bomb: The runways are pitted with 500 lb bomb craters, making them useless.
- summit: Initial indications are that the emission was caused by collapse at the summit crater.
Preposition: of
- volcano: El Valle Situated in the crater of an extinct volcano, El Valle is famous for its Sunday Indian craft market.
