as in cliff
a steep wall of rock, earth, or ice
years of violent ocean storms had heavily eroded the beach, creating a scarp along one end of it
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Recent Examples of scarp
The farther away from a scarp, the lesser the hazard.
—
Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 4 Aug. 2025
That is a clear fingerprint of an earthquake, one that, according to the rounding and wear and sloping of the scarp, occurred about 2.6 million years ago.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 29 July 2025
One of the most perplexing hints of hydration are a handful of slope streaks: narrow, long and sometimes bright but usually dark features that are commonly located near the tops of crater walls and scarps.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 July 2025
The rupturing fault created an approximately 20 meters (or 65 feet) high new scarp on the seafloor, which in turns caused the water displacement and a series of six tsunami moving both east towards Sumatra, and west towards Sri Lanka, India and Africa—eventually reaching the Atlantic and Pacific.
—David Bressan, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
Surrounding that is the environmental protective garment (EPG), the heavy, visible, outer covering of the suit that protects the astronauts from cuts and punctures on a lunar terrain that bristles with jagged rocks and scarps.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
The Racehorse Creek area is home to 50-million-year-old leaf fossils, and ancient landslide, and a modern landslide that created a 90-foot scarp in 2009, the state Department of National Resources says in a primer on the area.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2024
Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 4 Aug. 2025
That is a clear fingerprint of an earthquake, one that, according to the rounding and wear and sloping of the scarp, occurred about 2.6 million years ago.
—Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 29 July 2025
One of the most perplexing hints of hydration are a handful of slope streaks: narrow, long and sometimes bright but usually dark features that are commonly located near the tops of crater walls and scarps.
—Phil Plait, Scientific American, 10 July 2025
The rupturing fault created an approximately 20 meters (or 65 feet) high new scarp on the seafloor, which in turns caused the water displacement and a series of six tsunami moving both east towards Sumatra, and west towards Sri Lanka, India and Africa—eventually reaching the Atlantic and Pacific.
—David Bressan, Forbes, 26 Dec. 2024
Surrounding that is the environmental protective garment (EPG), the heavy, visible, outer covering of the suit that protects the astronauts from cuts and punctures on a lunar terrain that bristles with jagged rocks and scarps.
—Jeffrey Kluger, TIME, 18 Oct. 2024
The Racehorse Creek area is home to 50-million-year-old leaf fossils, and ancient landslide, and a modern landslide that created a 90-foot scarp in 2009, the state Department of National Resources says in a primer on the area.
—Dennis Romero, NBC News, 15 Sep. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for scarp
Noun
-
The striking latticework rectangles of Alila Uluwatu, an all-villa resort set high on a cliff on the Bukit Peninsula, has become an icon for contemporary Bali.—
Juliet Kinsman,
Condé Nast Traveler,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Instead of sandy beaches, its dark volcanic cliffs drop abruptly into the sea.—
Abby Montanez,
Robb Report,
8 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
As the sun dropped and the temperature fell, Scarabeo Roches Noires emerged on the horizon, a small cluster of white tents perched on a rocky escarpment.—
Fergus Scholes,
TheWeek,
30 Jan. 2026
-
Angama Mara, which opened in 2016 and sits on top of the Oloololo escarpment overlooking the Mara Triangle, comprises two camps.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
22 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Scarp.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/scarp. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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