Word.ws English Dictionary

bedrock

Syllables: bed·rock/ˈbɛd.ɹɒk/US/ˈbɛdˌɹɑk/

bedrock noun: the solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface.

bedrock: the solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface
Image: Wilsonbiggs Vector : EssensStrassen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

bedrock (countable and uncountable, plural bedrocks)

  1. The solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface.
    • The denudation of the land was upon a grand scale. All superficial accumulations were swept away, and the bedrock was exposed.1880, Mark Twain [pseudonym] (Samuel L[anghorne] Clemens), chapter XL, in A Tramp Abroad; […], Hartford, Conn.: American Publishing Company; London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 466
    • Listen! It's big. Only eight to twenty feet to bedrock. There won't be a claim that don't run to half a million.1912 October, Jack London, “The Stampede to Squaw Creek”, in Smoke Bellew, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co, →OCLC
  2. (figuratively) A basis or foundation.
    • If culture is the bedrock of a society, then language is the cornerstone of culture.
    • Now, although like most young people, Godfrey was indolent and evasive of difficulties, fearful of facing troubles also, he had a bedrock of character.1918, H[enry] Rider Haggard, chapter VIII, in Love Eternal
  3. (Internet, self-harm) The bones.

Verb

bedrock (third-person singular simple present bedrocks, present participle bedrocking, simple past and past participle bedrocked)

  1. (figuratively, transitive) To establish on a solid foundation.
    • Bedrocked in the formative race relations of the Heart of Dixie, the governor declined an invitation to the unveiling of artist Maya Lin's civil rights memorial in downtown Montgomery.2011, Allen Tullos, Alabama Getaway: The Political Imaginary and the Heart of Dixie, page 128

bedrock meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

bedrock in Hindi

बेडरॉक

bedrock in Tamil

படுகைப்பாறை, அடிப்பாறை, அச்சாணி, அடித்தளம், அஸ்திவாரம்

bedrock in Urdu

بنیادی اصول

bedrock in Bengali

ভিত্তিপ্রস্তর, মূল শিলা, মূল ভিত্তি, মূলনীতি
More languagesFewer languages
bedrock in Telugu
బెడ్రాక్
bedrock in Malayalam
ആധാരലശില, അടിപ്പാറ, അടിത്തറ, ആധാരം
bedrock in Kannada
ಆಧಾರಶಿಲೆ, ತಳಪಾಯ
bedrock in Punjabi
ਬੇਡਰੌਕ, ਬੇਡਰੋਕ
bedrock in Odia
ବେଡରକ୍
bedrock in Nepali
बेडरोक, बेडरोकमा
bedrock in Tagalog
palanas, lunas na bato
bedrock in Persian
سنگ بستر

Examples of bedrock in a sentence

  • Many of the bedrock assumptions of American culture — about work, progress, fairness and optimism — are being shaken as successive generations worry about the prospect of declining living standards.2012 October 23, David Leonhardt, “Standard of Living Is in the Shadows as Election Issue”, in New York Times, retrieved 24 Oct 2012:
  • The research on the Like button was an example of how Facebook has questioned the bedrock features of social networking.2021 October 25, Mike Isaac, “Facebook Wrestles With the Features It Used to Define Social Networking”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
  • Punctuality and reliability remain the bedrock of a successful railway.2023 April 5, Philip Haigh, “Comment: Pay deal a positive result”, in RAIL, number 980, page 3:

All 16 example sentences with bedrock

Forms of bedrock

Noun
pluralbedrocks
Verb
third-person singular presentbedrocks
present participlebedrocking
past participlebedrocked
pastbedrocked

Plural of bedrock: bedrocks

Origin of bedrock

From bed (“a layer on top of which something else rests.”) + rock.

Words formed from bedrock

Phrases with bedrock

Questions about bedrock

What does bedrock mean?
Bedrock means the solid rock found at some depth below the ground surface.
What is bedrock in Hindi?
Bedrock in Hindi is बेडरॉक. See Bedrock meaning in Hindi.
How do you use bedrock in a sentence?
Many of the bedrock assumptions of American culture — about work, progress, fairness and optimism — are being shaken as successive generations worry about the prospect of declining living standards.
What part of speech is bedrock?
Bedrock can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce bedrock?
Bedrock is pronounced /ˈbɛd.ɹɒk/ (UK).
What is the plural of bedrock?
The plural of bedrock is bedrocks.

Words near bedrock in the dictionary

  1. bedrizzled
  2. bedrizzles
  3. bedrizzling
  4. bedrobe
  5. bedrobes
  6. bedrock
  7. bedrocked
  8. bedrocking
  9. bedrocks
  10. bedrocky
  11. bedroll

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bedrock (page history and authors); bedrock (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bedrock (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bedrock (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bedrock (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bedrock (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bedrock (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); bedrock (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bedrock (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bedrock (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); bedrock (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-bedrock.wav.

Cite this entry: “bedrock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bedrock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.