Illustration of continental shelf
- 1 seashore
- 2 continental shelf
- 3 continental slope
- 4 abyssal plain
- 5 seamount
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
Examples of continental shelf in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Interestingly, each individual manta ray undertook its first extreme dive within a day of moving off the continental shelf into the deep ocean waters.
—
New Atlas, 15 Oct. 2025
There is no continental shelf off the once-Golden State, so wind advocates were planning to install Washington Monument-size turbines on enormous semi-submersible platforms anchored by cables to the seafloor, 1,000 feet or more below the ocean surface.
—Craig Rucker, Boston Herald, 26 Sep. 2025
The coast in Palm Beach County (which includes Jupiter!) gets a further boost due to its shape that juts out a little farther east and the fact that the continental shelf is quite narrow here.
—Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 19 Sep. 2025
Russia's Arctic continental shelf contains more than 85 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 17 billion metric tons of oil, Russian state media reported in 2022.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for continental shelf
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.
New Atlas, 15 Oct. 2025
There is no continental shelf off the once-Golden State, so wind advocates were planning to install Washington Monument-size turbines on enormous semi-submersible platforms anchored by cables to the seafloor, 1,000 feet or more below the ocean surface.
—Craig Rucker, Boston Herald, 26 Sep. 2025
The coast in Palm Beach County (which includes Jupiter!) gets a further boost due to its shape that juts out a little farther east and the fact that the continental shelf is quite narrow here.
—Tara Massouleh McCay, Southern Living, 19 Sep. 2025
Russia's Arctic continental shelf contains more than 85 trillion cubic meters of natural gas and 17 billion metric tons of oil, Russian state media reported in 2022.
—Ellie Cook, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for continental shelf
Cite this Entry
“Continental shelf.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/continental%20shelf. Accessed 2 Jan. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share