What does "atlas" mean?
A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
Atlas
/ˈætləs/ name, noun
name, noun ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
- Grammar: atlas is listed as name, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: map collection, aeronautical chart, antaeus, arcade.
- Useful contrasts: caryatid, caryatides.
- Usage evidence: I paid 2,000 yen for this atlas.
How to use "atlas"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "atlas" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "atlas" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "atlas" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "atlas" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "atlas" is acting as name, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "map collection" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "atlas", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
- 2 A rich satin fabric. countable, historical, uncountable
"I saw ye Taffaties and Atlasses in ye warehouse, and gave directions concerning their severall colours and stripes, ordering Mr. Charnock to use his best endeavours to encrease their quantity; […]"
- 3 A particular model or individual specimen of the Atlas missile and launch vehicle line. US
- 4 a figure of a man used as a supporting column wordnet
- 5 A bound collection of tables, illustrations, etc. on any given subject.
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 the 1st cervical vertebra wordnet
- 7 A detailed visual conspectus of something of great and multi-faceted complexity, with its elements splayed so as to be presented in as discrete a manner as possible whilst retaining a realistic view of the whole. especially
"An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs"
- 8 a collection of maps in book form wordnet
- 9 A family of coordinate charts that cover a manifold.
- 10 The uppermost vertebra of the cervical spine in the neck in humans and some other animals.
"There are of these glands upon the first vertebra of the neck of the atlas; on which the head turns[…]"
- 11 One who supports a heavy burden; mainstay.
- 12 A figure of a man used as a column.
- 13 A sheet of paper measuring 26 inches by 34 inches.
- 14 An image or texture containing a number of other images or textures, so as to reduce the cost of loading them separately.
"a glyph atlas used in font rendering"
Proper Noun
- 1 The son of Iapetus and Clymene, war leader of the Titans ordered by the god Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders; father to the Hesperides, the Hyades, and the Pleiades; king of the legendary Atlantis. Greek, countable, uncountable
- 2 A subgroup of the Berber languages.
- 3 Alternative form of ATLAS alt-of, alternative
- 4 Initialism of Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (a robotic astronomical survey and early warning system optimized for detecting smaller near-Earth objects) abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
- 5 A placename:; A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Pike County, Illinois. countable, uncountable
Show 11 more definitions
- 6 Ellipsis of Atlas Mountains abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
- 7 A comet, an interstellar object visiting the Solar System, on a hyperbolic orbit. Named after the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.
- 8 A placename:; A place in the United States:; A township in Genesee County, Michigan. countable, uncountable
- 9 A placename:; A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas. countable, uncountable
- 10 A placename:; A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable
- 11 A placename:; A place in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Laketown, Polk County, Wisconsin. countable, uncountable
- 12 A placename:; A moon of Saturn. countable, uncountable
- 13 A placename:; A crater in the last quadrant of the moon. countable, uncountable
- 14 A placename:; A triple star system in the Pleiades open cluster (M45) also known as 27 Tauri. countable, uncountable
- 15 A surname. countable
- 16 An SM-65, an early ICBM, soon developed into a long-lived orbital launch vehicle series. US, countable, uncountable
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"I paid 2,000 yen for this atlas."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "atlas"?
Common synonyms include: map collection, aeronautical chart, antaeus, arcade, asp, asroc.
How do you use "atlas" in a sentence?
I paid 2,000 yen for this atlas.
How do you pronounce "atlas"?
Pronounced /ˈætləs/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Latin Atlas, from the name of the Ancient Greek mythological figure Ἄτλας (Átlas, “Bearer (of the Heavens)”), from τλῆναι (tlênai, “to suffer”, “to endure”, “to bear”). The sense referring to books of maps comes from the Atlas of Mercator, which he named thus in honor of Atlas, who was supposed to be skillful in astronomy and the doctrine of the sphere. The sense referring to the vertebra reflects that the spine carries the globe of the cranium (the neck carries the head).
Etymology 2
From Arabic أَطْلَس (ʔaṭlas, “satin”).
Etymology 3
From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.
Etymology 4
From Arabic أَطْلَس (ʔaṭlas). From the Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), stemming from the belief that the mountain range is actually the body of the Titan Atlas after being turned to stone. The Berber languages exist in the region of the Atlas Mountains.
Etymology 5
Alteration of ATLAS