CONTINENTAL SHELF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does continental shelf mean? 

• CONTINENTAL SHELF (noun)
  The noun CONTINENTAL SHELF has 1 sense:

1. the relatively shallow (up to 200 meters) seabed surrounding a continent

  Familiarity information: CONTINENTAL SHELF used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTINENTAL SHELF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The relatively shallow (up to 200 meters) seabed surrounding a continent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("continental shelf" is a kind of...):

Davy Jones; Davy Jones's locker; ocean bottom; ocean floor; sea bottom; sea floor; seabed (the bottom of a sea or ocean)

 Context examples 

Northwesterly winds allowed this warmer water to well up from the deep ocean onto the continental shelf in front of Marguerite Bay.

(Wind, Warm Water Revved Up Melting Antarctic Glaciers, NASA)

There, they metamorphose into transparent glass eels and migrate across the continental shelf to the coast.

(Study uncovers magnetic memory of European glass eels, National Science Foundation)