Meaning & use
atlas
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Meanings
nouncountable
A book or collection of maps, often with tables and charts of places and their features.
Grammar: Countable: an atlas, two atlases.
Patterns
- an atlas of something
She looked up the mountain in the road atlas.
The library keeps an atlas of the world's oceans.
The school gave every child a world atlas.
nouncountablespecialist
A book of detailed illustrations or data on a subject, such as a body part or the sky.
Grammar: Used with of and the subject: an atlas of anatomy.
Patterns
- an atlas of something
Medical students study an atlas of human anatomy.
The astronomer consulted a star atlas.
A bird atlas records where each species breeds.
nouncountablemedical
The top vertebra of the neck, which supports the skull and lets the head nod.
Grammar: A technical term in anatomy.
The atlas connects the skull to the spine.
The patient had an injury to the atlas.
The atlas is named for the Titan who held up the heavens.
Word forms
| plural | atlases |
|---|
Common combinations
- road atlas
- We kept a road atlas in the glove box.
- world atlas
- The world atlas showed borders from decades ago.
- consult an atlas
- He consulted an atlas to find the island.
- historical atlas
- A historical atlas traces how empires changed.
- online atlas
- The online atlas lets you zoom in on any city.
Synonyms and how they differ
- map book
- Map book is an everyday description, whereas atlas is the standard term.
- gazetteer
- A gazetteer lists places with descriptions, often without maps, so it differs from an atlas.
- chart
- A chart is a single sheet, especially for sea or air navigation, not a bound collection.
Word family
- Atlas proper noun
- the Titan of Greek myth who carried the sky
- atlases noun
- plural form
- atlantic adjective
- relating to Atlas or the ocean named after him
- atlantes noun
- sculpted male figures used as columns
Commonly confused: atlas or axis?
atlas vs axis
The axis is the second vertebra under the atlas, so the two bones are neighbors but different.
Practice
A hiker wants a bound book showing detailed maps of every region of the country. What should she buy?
Choose one answer.
An atlas is a book of maps. A gazetteer lists places in words, a thesaurus lists synonyms, and a directory lists names or contacts.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “atlas”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.