escarpment

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

escarpment

/ɪˈskɑːp.mənt/ UK
/ɪˈskɑɹp.mənt/ US

Where it comes from

Borrowed from French escarpement. By surface analysis, escarp + -ment.

noun escarpments

A steep descent or declivity; steep face or edge of a ridge; ground about a fortified place, cut away nearly vertically to prevent hostile approach. After the canyons, the most remarkable features of the country are the long lines of cliffs. These are bold escarpments scores or hundreds of miles in length,—great geographic steps, often hundreds or thousands of feet in altitude, presenting steep faces of rock, often vertical.

Translations

Every language

noun steep descent or declivity

Español	escarpadura, escarpa, escarpe
Français	escarpement
Deutsch	Steilhang, Böschung, Abhang
Italiano	scarpata
Русский	отко́с otkós

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"escarpment." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/escarpment. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

escarpment. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/escarpment

Chicago

"escarpment." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/escarpment.

BibTeX

@misc{escarpment_2026,
  title = {escarpment},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/escarpment},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}