geology: to force to descend below the edge of an opposing crustal plate during a process of subduction (see subductionsense 3)
… the quakes are thought to result from the build-up of stresses in one plate as it is subducted or dragged down under another.—Science News, 2 Mar. 1985
… the notion that sediments long ago "subducted" deep into the Earth—dragged under as one continental plate slid over another—are giving off gas.—David Osborne, The Atlantic, February 1986
geology, of the edge of a crustal plate: to descend below the edge of another crustal plate : to undergo subduction
… the deepest earthquakes, which occur in oceanic plates that are subducting, or plunging beneath other plates.—Stefi Weisburd, Science News, 16 Aug. 1986
Word History
Etymology
Latin subductus, past participle of subducere to withdraw
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