crater
Plural: craters
Noun
- a bowl-shaped geological formation at the top of a volcano
- a faint constellation in the southern hemisphere near Hydra and Corvus
- a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb
- A hemispherical pit created by the impact of a meteorite or other object.
- The basin-like opening or mouth of a volcano, through which the chief eruption comes; similarly, the mouth of a geyser, about which a cone of silica is often built up.
- The pit left by the explosion of a mine or bomb.
- Any large, roughly circular depression or hole.
- Alternative spelling of krater (“vessel for mixing water and wine”).
- Alternative form of creature.
Verb
Verb Forms: cratered, cratering, craters
- To form a large, bowl-shaped cavity or hole.
- To form craters in a surface.
- To collapse catastrophically; to become devastated or completely destroyed.
- To crash or fall.
- To die from fall damage.
Examples
- He cratered into that snow bank about five seconds after his first lesson.
- My opponent’s score is about to crater after I play QUIXOTRY.
Origin / Etymology
First coined 1613, from Latin crātēr (“basin”), from Ancient Greek κρᾱτήρ (krātḗr, “mixing-bowl, wassail-bowl”).
Synonyms
volcanic crater, astrobleme, hollow out, implode, tank
Scrabble Score: 8
crater: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcrater: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
crater: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary