natural depression
- noun
- It absolutely was laborious to come back here and see that they had been buried in the middle of a natural depression in the middle of the desert.
Examples
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Wilkins laid out the pavilions and amenities to take advantage of a natural depression in the site.
Blog text (22) -
The Fayoum is a natural depression located on the far eastern edge of the Sahara Desert in Egypt's Western Desert, 70 kilometers southwest of Cairo.
Academic text (1995) -
The Fayoum is a natural depression located on the far eastern edge of the Sahara Desert in Egypt's Western Desert.
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Even a natural depression in a rock can serve as a simple water source during dry seasons.
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Shaka had hidden reserve troops inside a natural depression atop his redoubt, allowing them to launch a surprise attack.
Synonyms
72
3.1
An area of land where water collects and flows into a river, lake, or sea
11
5.3
A low area of land that forms a hollow
A hole that forms when wood decays or people dig the ground
How Deep
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'natural' (produced by nature) modifies 'depression' (a sunken area), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a sunken area formed by natural processes. This follows a basic adjective + noun pattern that is cross‑linguistically common and therefore immediately comprehensible.
Etymology
Natural depression comes from a simple picture of a low, sunken spot in the land: natural shows it was made by nature and depression means a place that is 'lower' than the ground around it. So it refers to a 'hollow' or sunken area where water or soil can collect.