Dictionary

terraform en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɛɹəfɔː(ɹ)m/

Etymology

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.

Meanings

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 absorptive gases to trap the feeble heat of the far-off Sun. 1942 July, Jack Williamson, “Collision Orbit”, in Astounding Science-Fiction, volume 29, number 5, page 82:

Forms

Deriveds

paraterraform · terraformer · terraformable

Synonyms

Earthscape

Translations (11)

es terraformar (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · fi maankaltaistaa (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · de terraformen (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · hu földiesít (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · ja テラフォーミングする (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · sv terraformera (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · hu a Földhöz hasonlóvá tesz (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · pt terraformar (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · pl terraformować (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · fr terraformer (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth) · hu terraformál (transform into one having the characteristics of Earth)