Meaning & use
ice cap
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A large, permanent dome of ice and snow that covers a wide area of land, especially near the North or South Pole.
Grammar: Countable; can be used with 'a' or in the plural 'ice caps'.
Patterns
- the polar ice cap
- melting ice caps
- a thick ice cap
Scientists are worried about the melting of the polar ice cap.
The ice cap covers most of Greenland.
Rising temperatures are causing ice caps to shrink.
Word forms
| plural | ice caps |
|---|
Common combinations
- polar ice cap
- The polar ice cap is sensitive to climate change.
- melting ice cap
- The melting ice cap is raising sea levels.
- ice cap covers
- A thick ice cap covers the island.
- shrink
- The ice cap has shrunk by 10 percent in ten years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ice sheet
- An ice sheet is much larger, covering an entire continent; an ice cap is smaller and dome-shaped.
- glacier
- A glacier is a slow-moving river of ice, while an ice cap is a stationary dome.
Commonly confused: ice cap or iceberg?
ice cap vs iceberg
An iceberg is a piece of ice floating in the sea, not a land-covering mass.
Practice
Which term describes a smaller dome of ice, as opposed to a vast continental sheet?
Choose one answer.
An ice cap is a dome-shaped mass of ice covering a smaller area, while an ice sheet is much larger. An iceberg floats in water, and a glacier moves.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “ice cap”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.