iceberg

CEFRC1

/ˈaɪsbɜːɡ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A large piece of floating ice broken from a glacier.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A huge mass of ocean-floating ice which has broken off a glacier or ice shelf

Examples

  • Only the tip of an iceberg shows above the water.

  • The passengers were asleep in their cabins when the ship hit a huge iceberg.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An aloof person.

  2. The seaward end of a glacier.

  3. An impending disastrous event whose adverse effects are only beginning to show.

More examples

In context

  • What you see above the water is just the tip of the iceberg.

  • Do some digging into that politician's past life and associates, and you'll see that the iceberg runs deep.

  • The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The captain spotted a massive blank floating in the cold ocean and avoided a collision.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

▲ Dutch ijsbergpcalq. English iceberg Partial calque of Dutch ijsberg (compound of ijs (“ice”) + berg (“mountain”)), from Middle Dutch ijsberch. First used to describe a glacier as seen at a distance from a ship then used as a term to describe the floating chunks of ice broken off from such glaciers. Cognate to German Eisberg, Danish isbjerg, Norwegian isberg and Swedish isberg. Figurative senses in reference to the fact that only one-tenth of an iceberg is usually visible above water.