Cordillera definition

kôrdl-yârə, kôr-dĭlər-ə
An extensive, continent-wide chain of mountains, especially one in the Americas.
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A region of Canada, similar to the Appalachian, but with mostly new mountain ranges.
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A mountain range or a series of parallel mountain ranges that are usually the principal mountain system of a continent.
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An extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges, especially the principal mountain system of a continent.
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A long and wide chain of mountains, especially the main mountain range of a large landmass. Cordilleras can include the valleys, basins, rivers, lakes, plains, and plateaus between parallel chains of a single mountain system, or they can consist solely of a string of connected mountain peaks.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
cordillera
Plural:
Cordilleras

Origin of cordillera

  • Spanish from cordilla diminutive of cuerda cord from Latin chorda cord

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Spanish, from Old Spanish cordilla, cordiella, diminutive of cuerda (“a rope, string”). See cord.

    From Wiktionary

Cordillera Sentence Examples

  • Its situation near the high cordillera gives it a cold, changeable climate.

  • The Lower Tertiary consists largely of reddish sandstones resting upon the old rocks of the Cordillera and of the Sierras.

  • The coast, extending from the base of the Western or Maritime Cordillera to the Pacific Ocean, consists of a sandy desert crossed at intervals by rivers flowing through narrow, fertile valleys.

  • Paz Soldan and other Peruvian geographers give the name of Andes, par excellence, to the Eastern Cordillera.

  • It is nowhere disturbed by volcanic eruptions, except at the very edge of the formation near Lake Titicaca, and in this respect it differs essentially from the Maritime Cordillera.

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Words near cordillera in the Dictionary