crustal

American

[kruhs-tl] / ˈkrʌs tl /

adjective

of or relating to a crust, as of the earth.

crustal British

/ ˈkrʌstəl /

adjective

of or relating to the earth's crust

"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

Etymology

Origin of crustal

1855–60; < Latin crūst ( a ) shell, crust + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Over the past decade, growing evidence has convinced many researchers that rare earthquakes do originate in the mantle, though they may occur about 100 times less frequently than crustal earthquakes.

From Science Daily • Feb. 20, 2026

Further evidence for a north-to-south impact came from studying the moon's topography, crustal thickness, and surface chemistry.

From Science Daily • Oct. 12, 2025

However, it was not known that Mars also possessed the diverse, explosive volcanoes that form on Earth due to crustal recycling.

From Science Daily • Feb. 15, 2024

The temperature along the plate boundary and the amount of strain built up is well studied there, and the results of their model match crustal movements based on satellite observations, the scientists said.

From Science Daily • Feb. 7, 2024

At first people called them "crustal blocks" or sometimes "paving stones."

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023