continents


The large parts of the surface of the Earth that rise above sea level. The seven major continents are Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Notes for continents

Continents are made from the lightest rocks in the Earth. Some of these are also the oldest known rocks on Earth, with an age of 3.5 billion years, measured by radioactive dating.

Notes for continents

According to the theory of plate tectonics, continents move along piggy-back on the tectonic plates like rafts floating on water.

Words Nearby continents

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

How to use continents in a sentence

  • This covering extends rather less far toward the planet's equator than does the snow sheet on our continents.

    Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
  • These occur on the continents, especially where they afford broad plains little interrupted by mountain ranges.

    Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
  • In general, the central parts of continents are likely to receive much less rainfall than their peripheral portions.

    Outlines of the Earth's History | Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
  • The isthmus which joined the two great continents of the New World remained, according to him, unappropriated.

  • Who is surprised now to see that the electric telegraph instantly sends human thought across continents and seas?

    Urania | Camille Flammarion