GEOLOGICAL FAULT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does geological fault mean? 

• GEOLOGICAL FAULT (noun)
  The noun GEOLOGICAL FAULT has 1 sense:

1. (geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other

  Familiarity information: GEOLOGICAL FAULT used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GEOLOGICAL FAULT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(geology) a crack in the earth's crust resulting from the displacement of one side with respect to the other

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

break; fault; faulting; fracture; geological fault; shift

Context example:

he studied the faulting of the earth's crust

Hypernyms ("geological fault" is a kind of...):

cleft; crack; crevice; fissure; scissure (a long narrow opening)

Meronyms (parts of "geological fault"):

fault line ((geology) line determined by the intersection of a geological fault and the earth's surface)

Domain category:

geology (a science that deals with the history of the earth as recorded in rocks)

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

inclined fault (a geological fault in which one side is above the other)

strike-slip fault (a geological fault in which one of the adjacent surfaces appears to have moved horizontally)

Instance hyponyms:

Denali Fault (a major open geological fault in Alaska)

San Andreas Fault (a major geological fault in California; runs from San Diego to San Francisco; the source of serious earthquakes)

 Context examples 

Basin formed by the downward movement of the earth's crust at a geological fault.

(Fault depression, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)