Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • A mountain range of Central Asia extending about 2,600 km (1,600 mi) east-northeast through Kyrgyzstan, southeast Kazakhstan, and northwest China. It rises to 7,439 m (24,406 ft) at Pobeda Peak.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A mountain range in central Asia.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Mandarin 天山 (Tiān-shān) ("celestial mountains")

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Tian Shan.

Examples

  • The parliament voted nearly unanimously to bestow his name upon a 14,000-foot peak in the Tian Shan mountains, but there was some debate.

    Other Comments 2011

  • The Naryn begins in the Tian Shan mountain range near the Chinese frontier high in eastern Kyrgyzstan and flows westward to irrigate the Ferghana valley in Uzbekistan where it merges with the dominant Syr Darya river.

    Derek Flood: From Totalitarianism to Turbines: The Unending Struggle for Power in Central Asia 2010

  • Hilton said he studied the essays of the French missionary Abbé Évariste-Régis Huc, whose version of the myth of Shambala located it somewhere north of the Kunlun mountain range between Altai and Tian Shan.

    When a Billion Chinese Jump Jonathan Watts 2010

  • Hilton said he studied the essays of the French missionary Abbé Évariste-Régis Huc, whose version of the myth of Shambala located it somewhere north of the Kunlun mountain range between Altai and Tian Shan.

    When a Billion Chinese Jump Jonathan Watts 2010

  • Hilton said he studied the essays of the French missionary Abbé Évariste-Régis Huc, whose version of the myth of Shambala located it somewhere north of the Kunlun mountain range between Altai and Tian Shan.

    When a Billion Chinese Jump Jonathan Watts 2010

  • Understory vegetation in the deciduous forests of this ecoregion is different from other parts of the Tian Shan.

    Tian Shan foothill arid steppe 2008

  • Zonation patterns are well-defined in the northwest part of the Tian Shan.

    Tian Shan foothill arid steppe 2008

  • The Tian Shan is not an endemic bird area, but two species, little bustard (Otis tetrax) and Houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata), occur in this ecoregion.

    Tian Shan montane steppe and meadows 2008

  • Because the north slope of the Tian Shan receives more precipitation than other mountain ranges in this part of China, the plains at the southern margin of the Junggar Basin are well suited to irrigated agriculture.

    Junggar Basin semi-desert 2008

  • Situated between the Tian Shan and Altai Mountain Ranges of northwestern China, the Junggar Basin is similar in many ways to the larger Tarim Basin that lies across the Tian Shan Range to the south.

    Junggar Basin semi-desert 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.