noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A piece of land that stands out (usually into water) from the land surrounding.
2. 2
   the part of a rock formation that appears above the surface of the surrounding land wordnet
3. 3
   A coming out of bedrock or of an unconsolidated deposit to the surface of the ground.
4. 4
   The part of a rock formation that appears at the surface of the ground.

Verb

1. 1
   To come out to the surface of the ground.
2. 2
   appear on the surface, come to the surface on the ground wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

outcroppingoutcroppingappeararisebecome manifestbecome visible

Example

More examples

"The sharp, layered outcrop appeared to pierce the desert sand like an ancient blade."

Etymology

From out- + crop.

Related phrases

sub-outcrop

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