Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An island or chain of islets connected by a coral reef that nearly or entirely encloses a lagoon.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A coral island, consisting of a strip or ring of coral surrounding a central lagoon.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A coral island or islands, consisting of a belt of coral reef, partly submerged, surrounding a central lagoon or depression; a lagoon island.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A type of
island consisting of a ribbonreef that nearly or entirely surrounds alagoon and supports, in most cases, one to manyislets on the reef platform. Atolls have a unique geology, so not all islands with a reef and a lagoon are atolls.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an island consisting of a circular coral reef surrounding a lagoon
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The atoll is on admiralty charts as Hikihoho, discovered by Bougainville [Louis Antoine de Bougainville, 1729-1811, French soldier and explorer, the first Frenchman to circumnavigate the world] but called Parlay after old Parlay, a wizard with pearls who never parts with a pearl and stores hundreds of ton of shell.
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The ring-like shape of the atoll is the result of coral reefs building up around a former volcanic island.
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Bassas da India (Iles Eparses): the atoll is a circular reef that sits atop a long-extinct, submerged volcano
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Inside the atoll is a large lagoon with shallows and pools 1 to 5 m deep.
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Bassas da India (Iles Eparses): the atoll is a circular reef that sits atop a long-extinct, submerged volcano
Geography-note 2008
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The rim of the atoll is a karst structure; there is also a quantity of exposed coral rock and extensive sand dunes and rubble to the southwest.
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The landing would take them down the runway away from the concentration of Russian troops; according to the satellite photo, they would have some cover at that end of the atoll from a short run of rocks.
Cyclops One Jim DeFelice 2003
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The landing would take them down the runway away from the concentration of Russian troops; according to the satellite photo, they would have some cover at that end of the atoll from a short run of rocks.
Cyclops One Jim DeFelice 2003
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Below it, the atoll was a tiny bull's eye in a huge target.
The Martian Way Asimov, Isaac, 1920- 1955
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Bassas da India: the atoll is a circular reef that sits atop a long-extinct, submerged volcano
The 2007 CIA World Factbook United States. Central Intelligence Agency
fbharjo commented on the word atoll
What toll atoll?
March 6, 2009
bilby commented on the word atoll
I'm naming my paradise island retreat No Worries Atoll.
March 6, 2009
bilby commented on the word atoll
And just for the record, I'm putting dontcry in charge of the coconuts.
March 6, 2009
nycanthro commented on the word atoll
It's the only Maldivian word in English (that I know of).
March 6, 2009
fbharjo commented on the word atoll
do tell (due tell)and it means "closing" and "uniting" paradoxically
March 6, 2009