CANYON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does canyon mean? 

• CANYON (noun)
  The noun CANYON has 1 sense:

1. a ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall

  Familiarity information: CANYON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CANYON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A ravine formed by a river in an area with little rainfall

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

canon; canyon

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

ravine (a deep narrow steep-sided valley (especially one formed by running water))

Meronyms (parts of "canyon"):

canyonside (the steeply sloping side of a canyon)

Domain region:

North America (a continent (the third largest) in the western hemisphere connected to South America by the Isthmus of Panama)

 Context examples 

The plains south of the Charon’s canyon — informally referred to as Vulcan Planum — have fewer large craters than the regions to the north, indicating that they are noticeably younger.

(Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History, NASA)

Madge stood up to direct him, pointing up the canyon a quarter of a mile.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is home to an unusual canyon system that’s far longer and deeper than the Grand Canyon.

(A ‘Super Grand Canyon’ on Pluto’s Moon Charon, NASA)

Many canyons are well below sea level as far as 60 miles (100 kilometers) inland.

(Hidden Greenland canyons mean more sea level rise, NASA)

On the eastern side of Titan, there are big seas with low elevation, canyons and islands.

(Cassini Reveals Surprises with Titan's Lakes, NASA)

Long ago, in the largest canyon system in our solar system, vibrations from "marsquakes" shook soft sediments that had accumulated in Martian lakes.

(Signs of Ancient Mars Lakes and Quakes Seen in New Map, NASA)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn's moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

Cassini's sharp views revealed the bright features to be a system of braided canyons with bright walls.

(Cassini to Make Last Close Flyby of Saturn Moon Dione, NASA)

What does exist is a great diversity of halophilic archaea (a type of primitive salt-loving microorganism) in the desert and the saline canyons around the hydrothermal site, but neither is found in the hyperacid and hypersaline pools themselves, nor in the so-called Black and Yellow lakes of Dallol, where magnesium abounds.

(Place discovered on earth with no microbial life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Four times as long as the Grand Canyon, and twice as deep in places, these faults and canyons indicate a titanic geological upheaval in Charon’s past.

(Pluto’s Big Moon Charon Reveals a Colorful and Violent History, NASA)