crater

/ˈkreɪdər/

/ˈkreɪtə/

Other forms: craters

A crater is a roundish dent left in the surface of something by the impact of something else. Look at the moon: it's covered in craters from thousands of impacts over millions of years.

Once in a while, you might hear the word crater used as a verb, as in, "The movie cratered at the box office, earning way less than expected." But you'll usually hear crater used as a noun to refer to a bowl-shaped depression left behind by an explosion or impact. Outside Flagstaff, Arizona, you'll find Meteor Crater, one of the most well-defined impact craters on the surface of the earth. It's almost a mile across, even though the meteor that created it was less than 100 yards in diameter.

Definitions of crater

1. noun

   a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano
   synonyms: volcanic crater

   types:

   caldera

   a large crater caused by the violent explosion of a volcano that collapses into a depression

   maar

   a flat-bottomed volcanic crater that was formed by an explosion; often filled with water

   type of:

   formation, geological formation

   (geology) the geological features of the earth
2. noun

   a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb
   types:

   collector

   a crater that has collected cosmic material hitting the earth

   lunar crater

   a crater on the Earth's Moon

   type of:

   depression, natural depression

   a sunken or depressed geological formation