BODY OF WATER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does body of water mean? 

• BODY OF WATER (noun)
  The noun BODY OF WATER has 1 sense:

1. the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean)

  Familiarity information: BODY OF WATER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BODY OF WATER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

body of water; water

Context example:

they were sitting by the water's edge

Hypernyms ("body of water" is a kind of...):

thing (a separate and self-contained entity)

Meronyms (substance of "body of water"):

H2O; water (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)

Domain category:

river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))

ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)

lake (a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land)

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

mid-water (the water that is well below the surface but also well above the bottom)

waterway (a navigable body of water)

falls; waterfall (a steep descent of the water of a river)

territorial waters (the waters surrounding a nation and its territories over which that nation exercises sovereign jurisdiction)

stream; watercourse (a natural body of running water flowing on or under the earth)

sound (a large ocean inlet or deep bay)

shallow; shoal (a stretch of shallow water)

seven seas (an informal expression for all of the oceans of the world)

sea (a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land)

pool; puddle (a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid)

polynya (a stretch of open water surrounded by ice (especially in Arctic seas))

offing (the part of the sea that can be seen from the shore and is beyond the anchoring area)

ocean (a large body of water constituting a principal part of the hydrosphere)

backwater (a body of water that was created by a flood or tide or by being held or forced back by a dam)

briny; main (any very large body of (salt) water)

lake (a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land)

inlet; recess (an arm off of a larger body of water (often between rocky headlands))

high sea; international waters (the open seas of the world outside the territorial waters of any nation)

gulf (an arm of a sea or ocean partly enclosed by land; larger than a bay)

crossing; ford (a shallow area in a stream that can be forded)

flowage (a body of water that has been created by deliberately flooding an area)

estuary (the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix)

drink (any large deep body of water)

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)

bay; embayment (an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf)

Holonyms ("body of water" is a part of...):

hydrosphere (the watery layer of the earth's surface; includes water vapor)

Earth's surface; surface (the outermost level of the land or sea)

 Context examples 

The team also found evidence that brines flow towards the Antarctic coast from roughly 18 kilometers (11 miles) inland, eventually discharging into the Southern Ocean, a biologically rich body of water that encircles Antarctica.

(Discovered deep under Antarctic surface: Extensive, salty aquifer and potentially vast microbial habitat, NSF)

Previous analysis of Cassini data suggested the presence of a lens-shaped body of water, or sea, underlying the moon's south polar region.

(Cassini Finds Global Ocean in Saturn's Moon Enceladus, NASA)

They retrieved water and sediment samples from a body of water that had been isolated from direct contact with the atmosphere for many thousands of years.

(Methane-eating bacteria in lake deep beneath Antarctic ice sheet may reduce greenhouse gas emissions, National Science Foundation)

Drowning precautions should include: • Fences around pools • Supervising children near any body of water, including tubs • Not swimming or boating when under the influence of alcohol or sedatives • Wearing life jackets when boating • Learning CPR

(Drowning, NIH)