Subsidence
noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 The process of becoming less active or severe. countable, uncountable
"The subdual or subsidence of the more violent passions."
- 2 the sudden collapse of something into a hollow beneath it wordnet
- 3 A sinking of something to a lower level, especially of part of the surface of the Earth due to underground excavation, seismic activity or underground or ground water depletion, or the rocks in a geological basin, due to continued deposition from above. countable, uncountable
"In the early hours of April 28, 1953, it was completely blocked by a subsidence, which caused the death of five persons, when a pair of semi-detached houses collapsed into the cavity."
- 4 a gradual sinking to a lower level wordnet
- 5 an abatement in intensity or degree (as in the manifestations of a disease) wordnet
Example
More examples"Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average due to many local factors: subsidence, upstream flood control, erosion, regional ocean currents, variations in land height, and whether the land is still rebounding from the compressive weight of Ice Age glaciers."
Etymology
Latin subsidens, subsidentis, present participle of subsidere. Equivalent to subside + -ence.
Related phrases
More for "subsidence"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.