ALLUVION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does alluvion mean? 

• ALLUVION (noun)
  The noun ALLUVION has 3 senses:

1. gradual formation of new land, by recession of the sea or deposit of sediment

2. the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land

3. clay or silt or gravel carried by rushing streams and deposited where the stream slows down

  Familiarity information: ALLUVION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALLUVION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Gradual formation of new land, by recession of the sea or deposit of sediment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("alluvion" is a kind of...):

geologic process; geological process ((geology) a natural process whereby geological features are modified)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Synonyms:

alluvion; deluge; flood; inundation

Context example:

plains fertilized by annual inundations

Hypernyms ("alluvion" is a kind of...):

geological phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the structure or composition of the earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alluvion"):

debacle (flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer)

flash flood; flashflood (a sudden local flood of great volume and short duration)

Noachian deluge; Noah's flood; Noah and the Flood; the Flood ((Biblical) the great deluge that is said in the Book of Genesis to have occurred in the time of Noah; it was brought by God upon the earth because of the wickedness of human beings)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Clay or silt or gravel carried by rushing streams and deposited where the stream slows down

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

alluvial deposit; alluvial sediment; alluvion; alluvium

Hypernyms ("alluvion" is a kind of...):

deposit; sediment (matter that has been deposited by some natural process)

Meronyms (substance of "alluvion"):

alluvial soil (a fine-grained fertile soil deposited by water flowing over flood plains or in river beds)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "alluvion"):

delta (a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river divides before entering a larger body of water)

placer (an alluvial deposit that contains particles of some valuable mineral)