overthrust

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noun

A form of thrust fault from beneath a hanging wall of rock.

OriginEnglish thrust ← Middle English over- ← Old English ofer- →
Scrabble 16
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Meanings

nounoverthrust (plural overthrusts)

plural overthrusts

  1. ambitransitivegeographyA form of thrust fault from beneath a hanging wall of rock.
verboverthrust (third-person singular simple present overthrusts, present participle overthrusting, simple past and past participle overthrusted or overthrust)

present singular third person overthrusts · participle present overthrusting · participle past overthrusted · past overthrusted

  1. intransitivegeographyOf a body of rock: to force itself over another.
adjectiveoverthrust (not comparable)
  1. not comparablegeographyBelonging to earlier strata, pushed by faulting over later and higher strata.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*úp
  2. Proto-Indo-European*upér
  3. Proto-Germanic*uber
  4. Old Englishofer-
  5. Middle Englishover-
  6. Englishover-
  7. Englishthrust
  8. Englishoverthrust

From over- + thrust.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

overthrust. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overthrust

MLA

“overthrust.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overthrust. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “overthrust,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/overthrust.

Source: overthrust on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.