atlas
/ˈætləs//ˈætləs/
atlas noun: a bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
Noun (1)
atlas (plural atlases or atlantes)
- A bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
- A bound collection of tables, illustrations, etc. on any given subject.
- A detailed visual conspectus of something of great and multi-faceted complexity, with its elements splayed so as to be presented in as discrete a manner as possible whilst retaining a realistic view of the whole.
- An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs1904: Eugène Collin, An Anatomical Atlas of Vegetable Powders Designed as an Aid to the Microscopic Analysis of Powdered Foods and Drugs, main title (J. & A. Churchill)
- In addition to classical radiology systems like angiography, CT scanner or MRI have greatly contributed to the improvement of the patient anatomy investigation. Each examination modality still carries its own information and the need to make a synthesis between them is obvious but still makes...1991, Alan C. F. Colchester, David J. Hawkes, editors, Information Processing in Medical Imaging, Springer, →ISBN, page 154
- A family of coordinate charts that cover a manifold.
- The uppermost vertebra of the cervical spine in the neck in humans and some other animals.
- There are of these glands upon the first vertebra of the neck of the atlas; on which the head turns[…]1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, part II, page 58
- Ribs and spines show through the thin layer of meat left on the carcase, and, where the head meets the body, the crucial first vertebra – the atlas – is exposed.2020, Tim Ecott, The Land of Maybe, Short Books, published 2021, page 174
- One who supports a heavy burden; mainstay.
- A figure of a man used as a column.
- A sheet of paper measuring 26 inches by 34 inches.
- An image or texture containing a number of other images or textures, so as to reduce the cost of loading them separately.
- a glyph atlas used in font rendering
- a texture atlas
Noun (2)
atlas (countable and uncountable, plural atlases or atlasses)
- A rich satin fabric.
- I saw ye Taffaties and Atlasses in ye warehouse, and gave directions concerning their severall colours and stripes, ordering Mr. Charnock to use his best endeavours to encrease their quantity; […]1887, Sir William Hedges, Sir Henry Yule, The Diary of William Hedges, Esq.
- Surat was an important port on the west coast of India from where atlases were exported on a large scale […]2016, Pius Malekandathil, The Indian Ocean in the Making of Early Modern India, page 53
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Atlas
Atlas (countable and uncountable, plural Atlases)
- The son of Iapetus and Clymene, war leader of the Titans ordered by the god Zeus to support the sky on his shoulders; father to the Hesperides, the Hyades, and the Pleiades; king of the legendary Atlantis.
- An unincorporated community in Pike County, Illinois.
- A township in Genesee County, Michigan.
- An unincorporated community in Lamar County, Texas.
- An unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia.
- An unincorporated community in Laketown, Polk County, Wisconsin.
- A moon of Saturn.
- A crater in the last quadrant of the moon.
- A triple star system in the Pleiades open cluster (M45) also known as 27 Tauri.
- A surname.
- An SM-65, an early ICBM, soon developed into a long-lived orbital launch vehicle series.
Noun (3) capitalized: Atlas
Atlas (plural Atlases)
- A particular model or individual specimen of the Atlas missile and launch vehicle line.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Atlas
Atlas (plural Atlases)
- A subgroup of the Berber languages.
- Ellipsis of Atlas Mountains
Proper noun (3) capitalized: Atlas
Atlas
- Alternative form of ATLAS
Proper noun (4) capitalized: ATLAS
ATLAS
- Initialism of Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (a robotic astronomical survey and early warning system optimized for detecting smaller near-Earth objects)
- A comet, an interstellar object visiting the Solar System, on a hyperbolic orbit. Named after the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System.
- Synonyms:
- 3I/ATLAS
atlas meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu and Bengali
atlas in Hindi
- bound collection of maps
- मानचित्रावली māncitrāvlī, एटलस eṭlas, अटलस aṭlas
atlas in Marathi
- एटलस, अॅटलस, अॅटलास
atlas in Urdu
- اٹلس, اٹلاس
atlas in Bengali
- অ্যাটলাস, আটলাস
More languagesFewer languages
- atlas in Telugu
- అట్లాస్, అట్లస్
- atlas in Malayalam
- അറ്റ്ലസ്, അറ്റ്ലാസ്, അട്ലസ്
- atlas in Kannada
- ಅಟ್ಲಾಸ್, ಅಟ್ಲಸ್, ಆಟ್ಲಾಸ್
- atlas in Punjabi
- ਐਟਲਸ, ਐਟਲਾਸ, ਏਟਲਸ
- atlas in Gujarati
- એટલાસ, એટલસ, એટ્લસ
- atlas in Odia
- ଆଟ୍ଲାସ୍, ଆଟ୍ଲାସ, ଆଟ୍ଲସ୍
- atlas in Nepali
- एटलस, एटलास, एट्लस
- atlas in Tagalog
- atlas
- atlas in Arabic
- أَطْلَس ʔaṭlas
- atlas in Malay
- atlas
- atlas in Indonesian
- atlas
- atlas in Persian
- اطلس atlas
- atlas in Thai
- แผนที่เล่ม pɛ̌ɛn-tîi-lêm
- atlas in Vietnamese
- tập bản đồ, át-lát
Examples of atlas in a sentence
- This large atlas maps the whole world in very great detail.
- A stereotaxic atlas is a collection of sections of the brain with coordinates for stereotaxic surgery.
- Back then there was no satnav — you needed to keep a paper atlas in the delivery van and to consult it daily.
Synonyms of atlas
Forms of atlas
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | atlases |
| plural | atlantes |
| plural | atlasses |
| plural | Atlases |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Atlases |
Origin of atlas
Borrowed from Latin Atlas, from the name of the Ancient Greek mythological figure Ἄτλας (Átlas, “Bearer (of the Heavens)”), from τλῆναι (tlênai, “to suffer”, “to endure”, “to bear”). The sense referring to books of maps comes from the Atlas of Mercator, which he named thus in honor of Atlas, who was supposed to be skillful in astronomy and the doctrine of the sphere. The sense referring to the vertebra reflects that the spine carries the globe of the cranium (the neck carries the head).
From Arabic أَطْلَس (ʔaṭlas, “satin”).
From Latin Ā̆tlās, from Ancient Greek Ἄτλας (Átlas), either from ἁ- (ha-, copulative prefix) + Proto-Indo-European *telh₂- (“bear, undergo, endure”) or of Pre-Greek origin.
Words formed from atlas
Phrases with atlas
Words that rhyme with atlas
Questions about atlas
- What does atlas mean?
- Atlas means a bound collection of maps often including tables, illustrations or other text.
- What is atlas in Hindi?
- Atlas in Hindi is मानचित्रावली (māncitrāvlī), एटलस (eṭlas), अटलस (aṭlas). See Atlas meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is atlas?
- Atlas can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce atlas?
- Atlas is pronounced /ˈætləs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of atlas?
- The plural of atlas is atlases.
Words near atlas in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: atlas (page history and authors); Atlas (page history and authors); ATLAS (page history and authors); atlas (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); atlas (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-atlas.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-atlas.wav.
Cite this entry: “atlas.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/atlas. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.