seismic

«seismic» in Mova's school dictionary: to do with earthquakes or the shaking of the earth:… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adjective (seismic)

meaning for a pupil

1) Seismic means to do with earthquakes or the shaking of the earth: seismic waves, seismic activity. tree →

2) Seismic can also mean very big and important, like a huge change that shakes everything: a seismic shift. tree →

sense in the lessons

Science and geography: seismic waves travel through the Earth after an earthquake; a seismometer (seismograph) records them; New Zealand, Japan and California have a lot of seismic activity because they sit on plate edges. Everyday news: «a seismic shift in opinion» means a big change. Safety: in seismic zones buildings are made to sway without falling.

examples

• Seismic waves spread out from the centre of an earthquake. tree →
• New Zealand has a lot of seismic activity. tree →
• The seismic station recorded a small tremor last night. tree →
• Schools in Japan practise for seismic events. tree →
• Winning the cup caused a seismic change in the town's mood. tree →
• Engineers build bridges to resist seismic shaking. tree →
• We drew a seismic wave on graph paper in science. tree →

note

Said «SIZE-mik». From a Greek word for shaking. Related words: seismology (study of earthquakes), seismologist, seismograph. Not the same as «cosmic» (to do with space). The «big change» sense is figurative.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «seismic» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.