noun / verb
crater
KRAY-ter/ˈkreɪtər/
A bowl-shaped depression created in a surface.
A raised rim surrounds the broad, sunken floor of the crater.
Etymology
Greek kratēr named a large bowl for mixing wine with water. Its bowl shape supplied the image for a volcano’s mouth, later extended to other large hollows, including impact scars and explosion cavities.
In context
you see a large crater where the ground is depressed by a foot or more where all the snow is melted
More examples
- The explosion leaves a deep crater in the field.
- A lake fills the volcano's crater.
- Repeated impacts crater the surface of the moon.
Forms
crater · craters · cratered · cratering
Similar words
- hollow
- A sunken area, not necessarily bowl-shaped or formed by impact.
- pit
- Often a dug hole with steeper sides than a crater.
- depression
- Any lowered surface area, regardless of shape or cause.