ice sheet

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noun

a broad, thick sheet of ice covering an extensive area for a long period of time.

a glacier covering a large fraction of a continent.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of ice sheet

First recorded in 1870–75

Words nearby ice sheet

ice road, ice run, icescape, ice-scoured, ice screw, ice sheet, ice shelf, ice show, ice skate, ice station, ice storm

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ice sheet in a sentence

Wilmot’s slopes are glacial sediment deposited about 18,000 to 15,000 years ago when two lobes of the massive ice sheet that covered much of Canada and the northern United States collided.
Small ski areas, big impact|Dina Mishev|February 5, 2021|Washington Post
You can even use this trick to burn a fire out on an ice sheet, though it’s hazardous.
How to build snowshoes on the fly—and 4 other tips for surviving deep snow|By Tim MacWelch/Outdoor Life|January 5, 2021|Popular-Science
To understand how water could have persisted in this chilly environment, Ojha and his colleagues estimated whether heat from the planet’s interior could have melted the base of ice sheets in the planet’s southern highlands.
The most life-friendly places on ancient Mars were deep below its surface|Kate Baggaley|December 3, 2020|Popular-Science
As our climate warms, the planet’s ice sheets are vanishing faster than anyone expected, pouring meltwater into rising seas.
What You Can Learn from Living in Antarctica - Issue 92: Frontiers|Marissa Grunes|November 11, 2020|Nautilus

This makes the ice sheets susceptible to both warmer ocean water and sea level rise.
Large-scale changes in Earth’s climate may originate in the Pacific|Gloria Dickie|October 8, 2020|Science News
The warmer Arctic has dramatically accelerated the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
The End of the Arctic? Ocean Could be Ice Free by 2015|Mark Hertsgaard|December 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The ice sheet, which was in time to bury half of Europe under its chilly mantle, had begun its slow movement toward the south.
Man And His Ancestor|Charles Morris
From the ship's deck, even when within a mile, the outcrop had appeared to project directly from under the inland ice-sheet.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
The sunset was a picture of prismatic colours reflected over the undulating ice-sheet and the tumbling cascades of the glacier.
The Home of the Blizzard|Douglas Mawson
The ice sheet did not come further south than the Thames valley.
The Geological Story of the Isle of Wight|J. Cecil Hughes
The existence of the ice-sheet has been conjured up in order to explain the presence of the boulder-clay.
The History of the European Fauna|R. F. Scharff

British Dictionary definitions for ice sheet

ice sheet

noun

a thick layer of ice covering a large area of land for a long time, esp those in Antarctica and Greenland

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for ice sheet

ice sheet

A large sheet of ice and snow that covers an entire region and spreads out under its own weight. Ice sheets have an area of more than 50,000 square km (19,500 square mi). Compare icecap.