outcropping
8
7.0
- noun
- /ˈaʊtˌkrɒpɪŋ/
- Specialized
:
afloramiento
- The hikers stopped to admire the stunning view from the rocky outcropping above the valley.
- rock outcropping
- a large outcropping
- rocky outcroppings
These may be the islands that are only an outcropping of rock in a blue magnitude.
- These may be the islands that are only an outcropping of rock in a blue magnitude.
Examples
-
Sometimes there are ferns, rhododendron, sometimes pale grass, and outcroppings of rock.
Fiction book (1992) -
Tiny falls, only as wide as threads, fell and hit an outcropping of the cliff on the way down.
Fiction book (1992) -
These may be the islands that are only an outcropping of rock in a blue magnitude.
-
And the other one, landed over there on that rock outcropping.
-
There are a couple of outcroppings of rock in the center at the very edge.
Fiction book (1992) -
Beyond it lay a deep reservoir, carved into an outcropping of granite.
Fiction book (1992) -
At the edge of the lake was a rocky outcropping covered by a scraggly copse of dark green trees.
Fiction book (1999) -
Two Bronze Age figures raise their axes on a rock outcropping in Sweden known as the Fossum panel.
Academic text (2003) -
Hands tied loosely, Mallory sat on an outcropping of gritty-surfaced rock.
Fiction book (1996) -
In the spring, colorful blossoms of mountain laurel and azalea set off by white outcroppings are a photographer's dream.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
7
7.4
A piece of rock that sticks out of the ground
1
6.0
A piece of hard rock that sticks out above the ground
1
8.9
A piece of rock that sticks out from a cliff or hill
How Large
- Specialized
14
3.6
- Specialized
7
7.4
- Specialized
8
7.0
66
1.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
outcropping = outcrop (semi-transparent) = out + crop + ing
The noun is a regular -ing formation from outcrop, but the geological sense is somewhat specialized rather than fully predictable for all learners.
Etymology
Outcropping comes from the parts out and crop, where crop once meant 'to rise up' and lives on in the phrase 'to crop up' meaning 'to appear'. So an outcropping is a piece of rock that 'rises out' of the ground and is visible above the surrounding land.