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Scarp vs Cliff - What's the difference?

scarp | cliff |

As nouns the difference between scarp and cliff

is that scarp is the steep artificial slope below a fort's parapet while cliff is a vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face.

As a verb scarp

is to cut, scrape, erode, or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment.

As a proper noun Cliff is

a diminutive of the male given name Clifford.

scarp

English

Noun

(wikipedia scarp) (en noun)
  • the steep artificial slope below a fort's parapet
  • (geology) a cliff at the edge of a plateau or ridge caused by erosion; the steeper side of an escarpment
  • * 2014, (Paul Salopek), Blessed. Cursed. Claimed. , National Geographic (December 2014)[http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2014/12/pilgrim-roads/salopek-text]
  • Sweating under the sun, we scale the barren eastern scarp of the Great Rift Valley (Area B), edging carefully around controversial, razor-wired Israeli settlements (Area C).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (earth science, geography, transitive) to cut, scrape, erode, or otherwise make into a scarp or escarpment
  • to scarp the face of a ditch or a rock
    From scarped cliff and quarried stone. — Tennyson.
    Sweep ruins from the scarped mountain. — Emerson.

    Anagrams

    * * * *

    cliff

    English

    (wikipedia cliff)

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) clif .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A vertical (or nearly vertical) rock face.
  • Synonyms
    * precipice
    Derived terms
    * cliff swallow * cliff-face * cliffed * cliffhanger * cliffing * cliffy

    Etymology 2

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music)
  • (Webster 1913)