Craterings

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Depressions or hollows with raised edges formed on a surface by impacts or explosions ; the process or effect of creating such bowl-shaped indentations often seen on planetary bodies or blast sites ; irregular cavities resulting from forces that displace material outward and upward around a central void
2. Bowl-like cavities marked by an elevated rim caused by collisions or eruptions ; the formation and presence of round impressions typically from meteorite strikes or volcanic activity ; concave formations characterized by a surrounding mound created through explosive or impact phenomena
3. Circular indentations surrounded by a raised border due to impact or detonation events ; the act and result of producing craters as a geological or extraterrestrial occurrence ; sunken, ringed depressions that arise when surface material is forcibly displaced by hitting or erupting forces

Etymology: "Craterings" is the plural of "cratering," so it refers to several instances of the process, or to the hollows it leaves behind. "Cratering" is built from "crater" plus the suffix "-ing," which turns the base noun into a name for the act of forming craters or for the result. "Crater" comes from Greek "krater," a wide bowl in which wine was mixed with water. Latin borrowed it as "crater," and English first used it for that kind of vessel. Its application to hollows in the ground came later, and the bowl shape carried over to the landscape, which is why the word still describes a dip with a raised rim.

Synonyms: pittings, depressions, holes, indentations, cavities