continental drift

noun

: a slow movement of the continents on a deep-seated viscous zone within the earth compare plate tectonics

Examples of continental drift in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

After hundreds of millions of years of isolation from each other, North and South America were once again pushed close enough by continental drift to allow living things to venture from one landmass to the other. —Riley Black, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Apr. 2025

Author’s note: Wegener was an early proponent of continental drift—a theory initially met with resistance. —Daniel Galef, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2024

The expedition’s leader was another German scientist, Alfred Wegener, who’s best known for having come up with the theory of continental drift. —Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024

And there’s a game where visitors piece back together Gondwana while exploring the concepts of evolution, tectonic plates and continental drift. —Liz Rothaus Bertrand, Charlotte Observer, 26 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1926, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for continental drift

• adrift
• airlift
• facelift
• festschrift
• forklift
• gearshift
• makeshift
• redshift
• sealift
• snowdrift
• spendthrift
• clift

Kids Definition

continental drift

noun

: the slow movement of the continents on a fluid layer that extends to deep within the earth