Meaning & use
terrain
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable or uncountable
The shape and surface of a piece of land, including how rough, steep or flat it is.
Grammar: Often uncountable (rough terrain), but a countable use appears with an adjective: a varied terrain.
Patterns
- rough terrain
- terrain for something
The truck is built for rough terrain.
Hikers crossed rocky terrain for most of the morning.
The flat terrain makes this a good route for cycling.
noununcountablefigurative
A field of activity or a situation, thought of as ground that has to be crossed carefully.
Grammar: Used with adjectives such as unfamiliar or difficult, often with a verb like navigate.
Patterns
- navigate the terrain
- unfamiliar terrain
Moving to a new company meant learning unfamiliar political terrain.
The two writers explored emotional terrain few novels touch.
Regulators are entering uncharted legal terrain with this technology.
Word forms
| plural | terrains |
|---|
Common combinations
- rough terrain
- The jeep handled rough terrain easily.
- mountainous terrain
- The army struggled to cross mountainous terrain.
- navigate the terrain
- She learned to navigate the terrain of office politics.
- difficult terrain
- Difficult terrain slowed the search party.
- uncharted terrain
- The company is moving into uncharted terrain.
Synonyms and how they differ
- landscape
- It stresses the look of an area as a whole, while terrain focuses on how the ground feels to travel over.
- ground
- It is the everyday, general word, and terrain is more precise about the physical features.
- topography
- It is a technical word for the detailed surface features of an area, as shown on maps.
Word family
- terrain park noun
- an area at a ski resort set up with jumps and rails
- terrestrial adjective
- relating to land or the Earth
- terrace noun
- a flat step cut into a slope
Commonly confused: terrain or terrane?
terrain vs terrane
A terrane is a geological term for a block of rock with its own history, not general ground features.
Practice
The cyclists slowed down because of the steep and rocky ___.
Choose one answer.
Terrain refers to the physical features of the land. Climate and weather concern the air, and harvest has no link to steep ground.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “terrain”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.