Meaning & use

ice cap

noun·Academic

A thick, permanent layer of ice and snow covering a large area of land, especially near the poles.

See it in a sentence

The Greenland ice cap holds enough frozen water to raise sea levels significantly if it melted.

Satellite images show the polar ice cap shrinking each summer.

A note on using this word

Ice cap refers to a dome-shaped mass smaller than an ice sheet, though the two terms are sometimes used loosely in everyday speech.

Words with a similar meaning

This term is best learned through its definition and examples.

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “ice cap”, then compare your use with the examples above.

Your draft stays on this page and is not sent anywhere.