a slowly moving mass of ice originating from an accumulation of snow. It can either spread out from a central mass (continental glacier) or descend from a high valley (alpine glacier)
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025
gla•cier /ˈgleɪʃɚ/USA pronunciation
n. [countable]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025- Geologyan extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and gathering over the years and moving very slowly downward or outward.
gla•cier
(glā′shər),USA pronunciation n.
gla′ciered, adj.
- Geologyan extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly, either descending from high mountains, as in valley glaciers, or moving outward from centers of accumulation, as in continental glaciers.
- Late Latin glacia (for Latin glaciēs)
- dialect, dialectal French, derivative of Old French glace ice
- 1735–45
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
'glacier' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
Glacier Bay
- Glacier National Park
- Muir Glacier
- Rhône
- Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
- ablation
- apron
- bergschrund
- blue ice
- calf
- calve
- chatter mark
- cirque
- corrade
- coulee
- crevasse
- debouch
- deglaciation
- dislocate
- drift
- driftless area
- dust well
- englacial
- esker
- glacial
- glacial drift
- glacial meal
- glacier lily
- glacier table
- glacis
- glance
- growler
- ice sheet
- ice tongue
- iceberg
- icefall
- icicle
- lateral moraine
- moraine
- moulin
- nunatak
- névé
- outwash
- palsa
- periglacial
- rasp
- recessional moraine
- relict
- rock glacier
- snout