earth-shattering: something very important or surprising that has a significant impact
The Mystery of Earth’s Core: Has It Stopped?
The earth’s core has stopped! The earth’s core is reversing! These are all headlines from recent news reports this past January.
While the shifting of the center of the planet is big news, it’s not as earth-shattering as some report.
The Earth’s inner core is a hot ball of iron deep inside the planet. And it does spin. That much is true. But it has not stopped spinning or changed direction.
Scientists at Peking University have found that the speed at which it spins is slowing down. The inner core speeds up and slows down every 60-70 years. This is different from the 24 hour rotation of the earth that we all experience every day. When the earth’s rotation and the inner core’s rotation match, you could say the core appears to have stopped. But it has only stopped spinning from our perspective.
Ok, so what? While we won’t be knocked off our feet as the core “stops”, this is important news. Changes in speed of the inner core might affect the Earth’s magnetic field, our climate and geology. It might even cause very small changes in the length of our day.
Sample sentences
1. The discovery of water on Mars was an earth-shattering moment for space exploration.
2. The team’s loss was earth-shattering for their fans.
3. The announcement of the new phone model was not earth-shattering, as people expected the updates.
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What It Means
1 : to get rid of : discard, eliminate
2 slang : to throw overboard
deep-six in Context
Citing budget concerns, the city council announced that it has deep-sixed plans to repave the city’s bike trails.
«The movement impressed the Clinton White House, which began drafting an executive order mandating plain language in government—until an administration attorney deep-sixed the idea because he did not find the mission suitably ‘magisterial.'» — Evan Halper, The Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2021
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Did You Know?
Before the introduction of shipboard sonar, water depth was measured by hand with a sounding line. This was generally a rope weighted at one end, with bits of leather called marks tied on at intervals to measure the fathoms. Between the marks, fathoms were estimated by deeps. The leadsman (pronounced LEDZ-mun) lowered the line into the water and called out the depth as the rope passed through his hands: «By the mark twain!» at two fathoms; «By the deep six!» at six fathoms. Perhaps due to an association with «six feet under» (dead and buried), to give something the deep six (or to deep-six it) was to throw it overboard, or, by extension, to discard it. In the mid-20th century, deep-six made landfall; since then it has been used as much by landlubbers as by old salts.
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Merriam-Webster unabridged