Graben

name, noun

name, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An elongated block of the Earth's crust, bounded by faults, that has dropped relative to the surrounding area.

    "1959, Robert G. Yates, George A. Thompson, Geology and Quicksilver Deposits of the Terlingua District, Texas, U. S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 312, page 49, The magnitude and shape of the large grabens strongly suggest that, when they formed, material much more mobile than ordinary rocks was present at a depth no greater than a few miles."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A municipality in Bern canton, Switzerland.

Antonyms

All antonyms
horst

Example

More examples

"1959, Robert G. Yates, George A. Thompson, Geology and Quicksilver Deposits of the Terlingua District, Texas, U. S. Geological Survey, Professional Paper 312, page 49, The magnitude and shape of the large grabens strongly suggest that, when they formed, material much more mobile than ordinary rocks was present at a depth no greater than a few miles."

Etymology

Borrowed from German Graben (“ditch”), from the verb graben (“to dig”).

Related phrases

half-grabenhorst and graben

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.