Word.ws English Dictionary

terraform

/ˈtɛɹəfɔː(ɹ)m/

terraform verb: to transform the atmosphere (or biosphere) of another planet into one having the characteristics of Earth.

Verb

terraform (third-person singular simple present terraforms, present participle terraforming, simple past and past participle terraformed)

  1. (transitive) To transform the atmosphere (or biosphere) of another planet into one having the characteristics of Earth.
    • He had been the original claimant of Obania, forty years ago; and Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock, only two kilometers through—by sinking a shaft to its heart for the paragravity installation, generating oxygen and water from mineral oxides, releasing...1942 July, Jack Williamson, “Collision Orbit”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 29, number 5, page 82
    Synonyms:
    Earthscape

Synonyms of terraform

Forms of terraform

third-person singular presentterraforms
present participleterraforming
past participleterraformed
pastterraformed

Origin of terraform

From Terra (“planet Earth”) + -form (“having the form of”). Coined by American science fiction author Jack Williamson in 1942 as part of his novella Collision Orbit.

Words formed from terraform

Questions about terraform

What does terraform mean?
Terraform means to transform the atmosphere (or biosphere) of another planet into one having the characteristics of Earth.
What part of speech is terraform?
Terraform is a verb.
How do you pronounce terraform?
Terraform is pronounced /ˈtɛɹəfɔː(ɹ)m/.
What is the past tense of terraform?
The past tense of terraform is terraformed.

Words near terraform in the dictionary

  1. terraculture
  2. terrae
  3. terrae filius
  4. terrae nullius
  5. Terraferma
  6. terraform
  7. terraformable
  8. terraformation
  9. terraformations
  10. terraformed
  11. terraformer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: terraform (page history and authors). 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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