Noun: massif
| Singular | massif |
| Plural | massifs |
Sample Sentences
-
This is itself a cheerless spot, particularly on a rainy day, when, overshadowed by the great massif of rock that towers in the background, and surrounded by the grey and cheerless quarries, it has a depressing character much in contrast with the green verdure encountered on the northern end of this interesting branch line. [1954 August, H. M. Madgwick, “The Blaenau Festiniog Tunnel”, in Railway Magazine, page 569:]
-
The southern borders of these states are keyed to the same horizontal projection, one surveyed by the frontier planter William Byrd in 1728, while the rivers forming their northern extents fall back just opposite each other from the flanks of the Appalachian massif. [2011, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Pulphead:]
-
Some deposits of iron ore are scattered along the edges of the massif in south - central France. [1921, Max Roesler, The Iron-ore Resources of Europe, page 68:]
-
The southern portion of the zone from the Maritime Alps to the Pelvoux massif is complicated by the movements which have accompanied the formation of the mountains of Provence. [1891, Carl Diener, “Reviews and Notices”, in The Alpine Journal, volume 15, page 564:]
Nouns inflected like massif
soldier's woundwort,
Nicosian,
whopper,
greypate,
tactile sign language,
chronotrope,
Rosie Lee,
dissentient,
photoinactivator,
sulphonediimine,
coastal waterfall,
residuary devise,
bituminization,
nitrosonaphthol,
smṛiti,
geosphere,
backscreen,
mensuralist,
flocculate,
flocculant, etc. (List truncated at 20 nouns)
Etymology
Borrowed from French massif, from Middle French massif, ultimately from Latin massa, from Ancient Greek μᾶζα (mâza, “barley-cake, lump (of dough)”). See: French Nouns '
massif', Latin Nouns '
massa'.