continental shelf

noun

: a shallow submarine plain of varying width forming a border to a continent and typically ending in a comparatively steep slope to the deep ocean floor

Illustration of continental shelf

• 1 seashore
• 2 continental shelf
• 3 continental slope
• 4 abyssal plain
• 5 seamount

Examples of continental shelf in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Quickly resisting the change, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to file suit against Google, arguing Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf applied only to the area of the continental shelf under U.S. control. —Miranda Nazzaro, The Hill, 20 Feb. 2025

Another white shark, a 9-foot 7-inch male named Keji, pinged near the continental shelf off Ft. Myers in January, as well. —Jon Chapman, Miami Herald, 18 Feb. 2025

You’d be forgiven for thinking that America’s continental shelf couldn’t get any bigger. —Jack Truesdale, The Atlantic, 25 Jan. 2025

The tracking data also showed more variability in locations than scientists expected, as the little turtles moved between continental shelf waters and open ocean. —Christina Larson, Chicago Tribune, 5 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1892, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for continental shelf

• bookshelf
• herself
• himself
• hisself
• itself
• meself
• myself
• nonself
• oneself
• thyself
• yourself
• elf

Kids Definition

continental shelf

noun

: a shallow submarine plain of varying width forming a border to a continent and typically ending at the continental slope