counterfort
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
16
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A spur of a mountain range.
Example Sentences
- "This involved new track drainage, strengthening of embankments and cuttings and the provision of counterforts."
- "The soil above the base of a reinforced concrete cantilever or counterfort wall is included as part of the weight of the wall in stability calculations."
- "Mair reports work described in 1844 to install counterforts in slopes, which were typically trenches that were two metres wide and around eight metres apart. They were dug down one metre and backfilled with gravel or rubble stone to provide internal buttresses and deep drains."
- "With its counterforts projecting some 300 miles, [the Pamir] forms the western headland of all the plateaux and mountain systems skirting the Chinese Empire; it completely separates the two halves of Asia, and forms an almost impassable barrier to migration and warlike incursions."
- "This angle is buttressed from the interior by an enormous counterfort of lower mountain country, extending several hundred miles to the eastward, forming the main part of the highlands of Bolivia, and separating the tributaries of the Amazon"
- "The physical impossibility of the line along the counterfort or mountain range from Punta Mona was easily demonstrated, for the very simple reason that no such counterfort or mountain range existed."
Etymology
From Middle French contrefort.