BASIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does basin mean? 

• BASIN (noun)
  The noun BASIN has 5 senses:

1. a bowl-shaped vessel; usually used for holding food or liquids

2. the quantity that a basin will hold

3. a natural depression in the surface of the land often with a lake at the bottom of it

4. the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet

5. a bathroom sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you can wash your hands and face

  Familiarity information: BASIN used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BASIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A bowl-shaped vessel; usually used for holding food or liquids

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

she mixed the dough in a large basin

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

vessel (an object used as a container (especially for liquids))

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

aspersorium (the basin or other vessel that holds holy water in Roman Catholic Churches)

baptismal font; baptistery; baptistry; font (bowl for baptismal water)

bidet (a basin for washing genitals and anal area)

birdbath (an ornamental basin (usually in a garden) for birds to bathe in)

emesis basin (a basin used by bedridden patients for vomiting)

laver ((Old Testament) large basin used by a priest in an ancient Jewish temple to perform ritual ablutions)

stoop; stoup (basin for holy water)

handbasin; lavabo; wash-hand basin; washbasin; washbowl (a basin for washing the hands ('wash-hand basin' is a British expression))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The quantity that a basin will hold

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

basin; basinful

Context example:

a basinful of water

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

containerful (the quantity that a container will hold)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A natural depression in the surface of the land often with a lake at the bottom of it

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Context example:

the basin of the Great Salt Lake

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

depression; natural depression (a sunken or depressed geological formation)

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

cirque; corrie; cwm (a steep-walled semicircular basin in a mountain; may contain a lake)

saltpan (a shallow basin in a desert region; contains salt and gypsum that was deposited by an evaporated salt lake)

tidal basin (a basin that is full of water at high tide)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

basin; catchment area; catchment basin; drainage area; drainage basin; river basin; watershed

Context example:

flood control in the Missouri basin

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

geographic area; geographic region; geographical area; geographical region (a demarcated area of the Earth)

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

detention basin (a storage site (such as a small reservoir) that delays the flow of water downstream)

retention basin (a storage site similar to a detention basin but the water in storage is permanently obstructed from flowing downstream)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A bathroom sink that is permanently installed and connected to a water supply and drainpipe; where you can wash your hands and face

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

basin; lavatory; washbasin; washbowl; washstand

Context example:

he ran some water in the basin and splashed it on his face

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

sink (plumbing fixture consisting of a water basin fixed to a wall or floor and having a drainpipe)

 Context examples 

That's relatively fresh in geologic terms; previous studies have estimated these basins all stopped contracting about 1.2 billion years ago.

(Study Finds New Wrinkles on Earth's Moon, NASA)

A recent international report examines observations by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of massive deposits in a basin on southern Mars.

(Mars Study Yields Clues to Possible Cradle of Life, NASA)

"We discovered valleys that carried water into lake basins," said Sharon Wilson of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.

(Some Ancient Mars Lakes Came Long After Others, NASA)

The annual dead zone measurement is used by the Gulf of Mexico/Mississippi River Watershed Nutrient Task Force to determine whether efforts to reduce nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River basin are working.

(Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is the largest ever measured, NOAA)

From these basins the water is continually exhaled by the sun in the daytime, which effectually prevents their overflowing.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Back I went to my hotel, put my head in a basin of cold water, and tried to think it out.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a tiny fountain in the middle of the room, that shot a spray of green perfume into the air, to fall back into a beautifully carved green marble basin.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The models suggests that explosions of warming nitrogen created basins in the moon's crust.

(New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters, NASA)

Combined with existing data and improved remote sensing instruments, the map, gives scientists new tools to investigate ocean spreading centers and little-studied remote ocean basins.

(New map uncovers thousands of unseen seamounts on ocean floor, NSF)

The researchers argue that although they result from a natural process, these emissions may also be responding to environmental change, such as the building of dams across the Amazon basin.

(Amazon trees are major source of methane emission, SciDev.Net)