nunatak

noun

nun·​a·​tak ˈnə-nə-ˌtak How to pronounce nunatak (audio)
: a hill or mountain completely surrounded by glacial ice

Examples of nunatak in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Video shows Antarctic base located on 'nunatak' The building shown in the video is South Africa's SANAE IV research station, which can be seen on Google Earth. Kate S. Petersen, USA TODAY, 21 Feb. 2025 Now, White Desert welcomes fewer than 300 guests per eternal-daylight season at two luxury camps made up of convivial bubble huts in Queen Maud Land, surrounded by majestic nunataks, or rocky outcrops. Annabel Illingworth, TIME, 25 July 2024 These interruptions in the near-flawless horizon were nunataks — the ridges of mountains that emerged from an ice field or glacier in Antarctica. Ali Wunderman, Travel + Leisure, 5 May 2023 Echo is a short drive from Wolf’s Fang Runway but Patrick Woodhead, ever the adventurer, led us over a nunatak instead. Ali Wunderman, Travel + Leisure, 5 May 2023 Abby Watts, a college student from Juneau, Alaska, is standing on a nunatak—an exposed ridge above an icefield. Ben Huff, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Apr. 2023 Come to Sheldon Chalet for the ultimate in exclusive get-aways: the property sits on its own almost 5-acre nunatak or glacier rock outcropping in Denali National Park, and the nearest town is 55 air miles away (the summit of Denali, conversely, is much closer—barely 10 miles hence). Mark Ellwood, Robb Report, 14 Feb. 2023 There are several nunataks at Graves, all peaks of the same mountain. Barry Lopez, Harper's magazine, 10 Jan. 2019 While Shivashankar correctly spelled scherenschnitte, a German word for the art of paper cutting design, Venkatachalam nailed nunatak, an Inuit word for a kind of glacial island. Maria Pasquini, PEOPLE.com, 1 June 2018

Word History

Etymology

Inuit (Greenland) nunataq

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of nunatak was in 1877

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Nunatak.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nunatak. Accessed 3 Mar. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on nunatak

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!