noun

atlas

AT-luhs

noun

A book of maps, often with extra tables, charts, or explanatory text.

"She pulled out the old road atlas to plan the route before her phone died."

"The library keeps a large atlas of historical world maps in the reference section."

A bound collection of tables, charts, or illustrations covering a particular subject.

"The surgeon consulted an anatomy atlas before the operation."

"His thesis included a small atlas of soil types across the region."

The topmost bone of the neck, which supports the skull and allows it to nod.

"A hard fall can fracture the atlas and injure the spinal cord."

How to Use Atlas

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA collection of maps (or similar reference charts) bound together like a book — or, in anatomy, the neck bone the skull rests on.

Memory tip

If you picture a giant holding up the world, it's easy to remember why a book of maps of the world is called an atlas.

Trace the full origin ↓

Common pairings

a road atlas an atlas of the world the atlas vertebra

Word Forms

atlases plural, atlantes plural, atlases plural, atlasses plural, Atlases plural, Atlases plural

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

She pulled out the old road _____ to plan the route before her phone died.

Etymology

From the Titan Atlas in Greek myth, condemned to carry the sky on his shoulders. The mapmaker Mercator used an image of Atlas holding the globe on the cover of his 16th-century map collection, and the name stuck for any book of maps.