topography

First attested in 1432. From Middle English topographye, from Latin topographia, from Ancient Greek τοπογραφία (topographía), from τόπος (tópos, “place”) + γράφω (gráphō, “I write”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təˈpɒɡɹəfi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /təˈpɑɡɹəfi/

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• Hyphenation: top‧og‧raphy
• Rhymes: -ɒɡɹəfi

topography (countable and uncountable, plural topographies)

1. A precise description of a place.
2. A detailed graphic representation of the surface features of a place or object.
3. The features themselves; terrain.
4. The surveying of the features.
5. (by extension) A figurative landscape; a structure of interrelated ideas, etc.
   • 2014, Rachel Lee Rubin, Well Met: Renaissance Faires and the American Counterculture, page 283:

     With good humor if predictably, the emotional topography of the faire facilitates a kind of liberation from both the closet and the cruelty of high school cliquedom.

• topology
• toponym
• toponymic

• optography