BOULDER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Boulder mean? 

• BOULDER (noun)
  The noun BOULDER has 2 senses:

1. a large smooth mass of rock detached from its place of origin

2. a town in north central Colorado; Rocky Mountains resort center and university town

  Familiarity information: BOULDER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BOULDER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large smooth mass of rock detached from its place of origin

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

boulder; bowlder

Hypernyms ("boulder" is a kind of...):

rock; stone (a lump or mass of hard consolidated mineral matter)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "boulder"):

glacial boulder (a boulder that has been carried by a glacier to a place far distant from its place of origin)

river boulder (a boulder that has been carried by a river to a place remote from its place of origin)

shore boulder (a boulder found on a shore remote from its place of origin)

Instance hyponyms:

Plymouth Rock (a boulder in Plymouth supposed to be where the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower)

Derivation:

bouldery (abounding in rocks or stones)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A town in north central Colorado; Rocky Mountains resort center and university town

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Instance hypernyms:

town (an urban area with a fixed boundary that is smaller than a city)

Holonyms ("Boulder" is a part of...):

Centennial State; CO; Colo.; Colorado (a state in west central United States in the Rocky Mountains)

 Context examples 

One outlier from the predicted shape model is the size of the large boulder near Bennu’s south pole.

(NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Discovers Water on Asteroid, NASA)

The trail it left on the slope has a pattern that suggests the boulder couldn't roll smoothly or straight due to its shape.

(Tall boulder rolls down martian hill, lands upright, NASA)

University of Colorado Boulder (CU-Boulder) scientists working at Niwot Ridge in Colorado's Rocky Mountains studied 15 years of snowmelt and atmospheric CO2 data to determine the effects of changes in snowmelt periods.

(Earlier snowmelt decreases streamflow, reduces forests' ability to regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide, NSF)

A belt of brushwood led up to a tangle of rocks—the whole plateau was strewn with boulders.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The OSIRIS-REx team also didn’t anticipate the number and size of boulders on Bennu’s surface.

(NASA Mission Reveals Asteroid Has Big Surprises, NASA)

“Hola, mon gar.,” said Aylward, seating himself upon a boulder by his side.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Large boulders displaced from their natural geologic location by glaciers.

(Erratics, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

But if that face belongs to a transgender person, such systems get it wrong more than one third of the time, according to new CU Boulder research.

(Facial recognition software has a gender problem, National Science Foundation)

Saturn’s rings are mostly chunks of water ice ranging in size from microscopic dust grains to boulders several yards (meters) across.

(Saturn is Losing Its Rings, NASA)

New research by University of Colorado Boulder professor Stephen Mojzsis outlines a likely cause for these mysterious features of Mars: a colossal impact with a large asteroid early in the planet's history.

(Ancient Asteroid Impact Explains Martian Geological Mysteries, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)