Words / B2

ATL-uh-s/ˈætləs/

An atlas is a book of maps, or a collection of maps in one volume: a world atlas; an atlas of anatomy. Map book is the everyday twin; a gazetteer is a place-name index. Find the basin in the atlas, then copy the grid reference. Mix-up: Atlas the Titan (mythology); Atlantic. Do not write atlas for a single worksheet map with no bound collection.

Meaning

A book of maps, or a collection of maps in one volume.

Examples

• “Find the basin in the atlas, then copy the grid reference, the geography paper said.”
• “An atlas of anatomy featured in the biology practical, which is the body-map sense.”

Good to know

a world / road atlas; an atlas of. Everyday: map book. Related: gazetteer. Trap: Atlantic / the Titan Atlas. Geography and biology. A book of maps, not one loose sheet.

Near in meaning

map book, gazetteer

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