glacier

/'glæsjə/

Thân thiện

A glacier flows slowly down a mountain valley.

Definition

1. Noun:
   • A slowly moving mass of ice: A large, persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. It forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • The glacier carved a deep valley as it advanced.
  • Scientists are studying the retreat of the glacier due to climate change.
  • We hiked to the foot of the massive glacier.

Advanced Usage

• "glacier pace": An idiom describing extremely slow progress or movement.
  • The bureaucratic process moved at a glacier pace.
• "glacier-fed": Describing a river or lake whose primary water source is meltwater from a glacier.
  • The glacier-fed river was a stunning turquoise color.

Variants and Related Words

• Glacial (adj): Relating to or resembling a glacier; extremely cold; very slow.
  • The glacial ice was centuries old.
  • Progress on the project has been glacial.
• Glaciation (n): The process, condition, or result of being covered by glaciers or ice sheets.
  • The period of glaciation shaped much of the northern landscape.

Synonyms

• Ice field: A large area of interconnected glaciers.
• Ice sheet: A mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 square kilometers.
• Ice cap: A mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 square kilometers of land area.

Related Phrases

• Glacier snout/terminus: The lower end of a glacier.
• Glacier melt/runoff: Water produced from the melting of glacier ice.

Học thuật

Noun

1. a slowly moving mass of ice