cartography

noun

car·​tog·​ra·​phy kär-ˈtä-grə-fē 

: the science or art of making maps

cartographic

ˌkär-tə-ˈgra-fik 

adjective

or less commonly cartographical

ˌkär-tə-ˈgra-fi-kəl 

cartographically

ˌkär-tə-ˈgra-fi-k(ə-)lē 

adverb

Examples of cartography in a Sentence

She studied cartography in college.

Recent Examples on the Web

Hansen offered cave tours to visitors, helped lead exploration in the more than 220-mile network of caverns and helped with biology, cartography and wildlife projects. —Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC News, 21 Feb. 2025

Being embedded in the Milky Way is actually a major obstacle to our galactic cartography, however. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 20 Feb. 2025

On OpenStreetMap, a volunteer-run mapping platform that provides cartography data for a number of popular apps, online discussions show some contributors pushed to immediately update the gulf’s name to the Gulf of America. —Paresh Dave, WIRED, 28 Jan. 2025

Putting cartography in their hands provides an opportunity for self representation and the dismantling of colonial worldviews and narratives. —Katherine Gallardo, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 May 2023

Word History

Etymology

French cartographie, from carte card, map + -graphie -graphy — more at card entry 1

First Known Use

circa 1847, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for cartography

• arthrography
• biography
• cosmography
• cryptography
• demography
• discography
• echography
• ethnography
• filmography
• geography
• hydrography
• lithography

Kids Definition

cartography

noun

car·​tog·​ra·​phy kär-ˈtäg-rə-fē 

: the making of maps

cartographic

ˌkärt-ə-ˈgraf-ik 

adjective