Meaning & use
topography
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Meanings
noununcountablespecialist
The shape and height of the land in an area, including its hills, valleys, rivers and other natural features.
Grammar: Uncountable: the topography of the region, not a topography.
Patterns
- the topography of something
The topography of the valley makes farming difficult.
Hikers studied the topography before choosing a route.
The city's hilly topography shaped how its streets were laid out.
noununcountabletechnical
The study or detailed mapping of the physical features of an area.
Grammar: Used for the field of study or its charts: a degree in topography.
Patterns
- a map of the topography
She studied topography to become a surveyor.
The engineers used satellite data for the topography of the site.
A detailed topography map was drawn before the road was built.
noununcountablefigurative
The arrangement or layout of the parts of something, such as a network or a surface.
Grammar: Used figuratively for layout: the topography of a network.
Patterns
- the topography of something
The report described the topography of the market, with a few large players and many small ones.
Doctors examined the topography of the skin under the microscope.
Her novel maps the emotional topography of a family.
Common combinations
- rugged topography
- The rugged topography slows travel across the region.
- varied topography
- The island has varied topography, from beaches to peaks.
- local topography
- Local topography affects where rain falls.
- topography of the land
- The topography of the land is mostly flat.
- topography map
- We carried a topography map on the climb.
Synonyms and how they differ
- terrain
- Terrain focuses on how the ground feels to travel over, while topography describes its shape and height more scientifically.
- landscape
- Landscape includes everything visible, including buildings and plants, whereas topography is only the form of the land.
- relief
- Relief is the geography term for differences in height, and topography is the wider description of surface features.
- geography
- Geography covers people, climate and places as well, but topography is only the physical layout of the land.
Word family
- topographic adjective
- relating to topography
- topographical adjective
- relating to the physical features of a place
- topographer noun
- a person who maps land features
- topographically adverb
- in terms of land features
Commonly confused: topography or typography?
topography vs typography
Typography is the style and arrangement of printed letters. Topography is the shape of the land.
Practice
Engineers studied the ____ of the hillside before deciding where to build the road.
Choose one answer.
Topography is the shape and height of the land. Typography looks similar but is about printed text, so it does not fit the setting.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “topography”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.