water
Other forms: waters; watered; watering
The liquid that is made up of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen is water. Water takes up over seventy percent of the earth’s surface. Your body is made of about sixty percent water.
Water can be a noun: it is the colorless, odorless liquid that all living things need to survive. Water can be a verb: as in watering the plants, getting teary, or urinating. When people talk about freezing and boiling, they are usually talking about the temperatures at which water freezes (32˚ F) and boils (212˚ F). Humans use water to bathe, cook, make fountains in the backyard, and mix with lemon juice and sugar to make lemonade.
Definitions of water
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binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent
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synonyms:
H2O
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types:
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tap water
water directly from the spigot
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bath water
water used for a bath
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dishwater
water in which dishes and cooking utensils are washed
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distilled water
water that has been purified by distillation
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holy water
water that has been blessed by a priest for use in symbolic purification
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ground water, spring water, well water
underground water that is held in the soil and in pervious rocks
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hard water
water that contains mineral salts (as calcium and magnesium ions) that limit the formation of lather with soap
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limewater
solution of calcium hydroxide in water used as an antacid
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meltwater
melted snow or ice
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brine, saltwater, seawater
water containing salts
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fresh water, freshwater
water that is not salty
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slush
partially melted snow
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soft water
water that is not hard (does not contain mineral salts that interfere with the formation of lather with soap)
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bilge, bilge water
water accumulated in the bilge of a ship
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water of crystallisation, water of crystallization, water of hydration
the water present in hydrated compounds
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red tide
seawater that is discolored by large numbers of certain dinoflagellates that produce saxitoxin
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rain, rainwater
drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds
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condensate
a product of condensation
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type of:
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binary compound
chemical compound composed of only two elements
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liquid
fluid matter having no fixed shape but a fixed volume
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a liquid necessary for the life of most animals and plants“he asked for a drink of water”
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types:
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branch water
pure natural water from a stream or brook; often distinguished from soda water
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spring water
water from a spring
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drinking water
water suitable for drinking
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bottled water
drinking water (often spring water) that is put into bottles and offered for sale
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sugar water
water sweetened with sugar
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ice water
water served ice-cold or with ice
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carbonated water, club soda, seltzer, soda water, sparkling water
effervescent beverage artificially charged with carbon dioxide
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mineral water
water naturally or artificially impregnated with mineral salts or gasses; often effervescent; often used therapeutically
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type of:
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food, nutrient
any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue
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nutrient
any substance (such as a chemical element or inorganic compound) that can be taken in by a green plant and used in organic synthesis
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liquid
a substance that is liquid at room temperature and pressure
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once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe (Empedocles)
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type of:
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element
one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe
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element
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the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean)“they invaded our territorial waters”“they were sitting by the water's edge”
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synonyms:
body of water
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types:
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backwater
a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam
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bay, embayment
an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf
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channel
a deep and relatively narrow body of water (as in a river or a harbor or a strait linking two larger bodies) that allows the best passage for vessels
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drink
any large deep body of water
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estuary
the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix
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flowage
a body of water that has been created by deliberately flooding an area
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crossing, ford
a shallow area in a stream that can be forded
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gulf
an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay
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high sea, international waters
the open seas of the world outside the territorial waters of any nation
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inlet, recess
an arm off of a larger body of water (often between rocky headlands)
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lake
a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land
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briny, main
any very large body of (salt) water
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mid-water
the water that is well below the surface but also well above the bottom
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ocean
a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere
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offing
the part of the sea that can be seen from the shore and is beyond the anchoring area
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polynya
a stretch of open water surrounded by ice (especially in Arctic seas)
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pool, puddle
a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid
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sea
a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land
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seven seas
an informal expression for all of the oceans of the world
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shallow, shoal
a stretch of shallow water
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sound
a large ocean inlet or deep bay
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stream, watercourse
a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth
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territorial waters
the waters surrounding a nation and its territories over which that nation exercises sovereign jurisdiction
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falls, waterfall
a steep descent of the water of a river
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waterway
a navigable body of water
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artificial lake, man-made lake, reservoir
lake used to store water for community use
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bayou
a swampy arm or slow-moving outlet of a lake (term used mainly in Mississippi and Louisiana)
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bight
a broad bay formed by an indentation in the shoreline
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billabong
a stagnant pool of water in the bed of a stream that flows intermittently
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branch
a stream or river connected to a larger one
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brook, creek
a natural stream of water smaller than a river (and often a tributary of a river)
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canal
(astronomy) an indistinct surface feature of Mars once thought to be a system of channels; they are now believed to be an optical illusion
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cascade
a small waterfall or series of small waterfalls
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cataract
a large waterfall; violent rush of water over a precipice
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cove
a small inlet
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deep
literary term for an ocean
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ditch
any small natural waterway
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firth
a long narrow estuary (especially in Scotland)
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fiord, fjord
a long narrow inlet of the sea between steep cliffs; common in Norway
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Guantanamo Bay
an inlet of the Caribbean Sea; a United States naval station was established on the bay in 1903
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gut
a narrow channel or strait
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headstream
a stream that forms the source of a river
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lagoon, laguna, lagune
a body of water cut off from a larger body by a reef of sand or coral
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loch
Scottish word for a lake
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loch
a long narrow inlet of the sea in Scotland (especially when it is nearly landlocked)
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lough
Irish word for a lake
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mare clausum
(closed sea) a navigable body of water under the jurisdiction of a single nation
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mare liberum
(free sea) a navigable body of water to which all nations have equal access
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mud puddle
a puddle of mud
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oxbow lake
a crescent-shaped lake (often temporary) that is formed when a meander of a river is cut off from the main channel
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pond, pool
a small lake
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rapid
a part of a river where the current is very fast
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rill
a small channel (as one formed by soil erosion)
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river
a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek)
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rill, rivulet, run, runnel, streamlet
a small stream
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South Sea
any sea to the south of the equator (but especially the South Pacific)
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sound, strait
a narrow channel of the sea joining two larger bodies of water
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tarn
a mountain lake (especially one formed by glaciers)
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tidal river, tidal stream, tidewater river, tidewater stream
a stream in which the effects of the tide extend far upstream
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tideway
a channel in which a tidal current runs
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watercourse
natural or artificial channel through which water flows
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type of:
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thing
a separate and self-contained entity
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a facility that provides a source of water“the town debated the purification of the water supply”“first you have to cut off the water”
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synonyms:
water supply, water system
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type of:
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facility, installation
a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry
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facility, installation
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provide with water
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supply with water, as with channels or ditches or streams“Water the fields”
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synonyms:
irrigate
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types:
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hose, hose down
water with a hose
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flush
cause to flow or flood with or as if with water
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hush
run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals
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perfuse, suffuse
cause to spread or flush or flood through, over, or across
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perfuse
force a fluid through (a body part or tissue)
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type of:
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wet
cause to become wet
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secrete or form water, as tears or saliva
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fill with tears
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liquid excretory product
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synonyms:
urine
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type of:
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body waste, excrement, excreta, excretion, excretory product
waste matter (as urine or sweat but especially feces) discharged from the body
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body waste, excrement, excreta, excretion, excretory product
Pronunciation
US
/ˈwɑɾər/
UK
/ˈwɔtə/
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DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘water'.
Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors.
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