noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The rigid, mechanically strong, outer layer of the Earth, which is divided into twelve major tectonic plates.

   "Holonyms: Earth, earth"

2. 2
   the solid part of the earth consisting of the crust and outer mantle wordnet
3. 3
   Any similar layer of an exoplanet.

   "Holonym: planet"

Synonyms

All synonyms

acresalluviumatmosphereclayclodcountry

Example

More examples

"Tectonic plates are pieces of the lithosphere."

Etymology

From litho- + -sphere.

Related phrases

chemical lithospheremechanical lithosphererheological lithosphereseismic lithospherethermal lithosphere

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