RESERVOIR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does reservoir mean? 

• RESERVOIR (noun)
  The noun RESERVOIR has 4 senses:

1. a large or extra supply of something

2. lake used to store water for community use

3. tank used for collecting and storing a liquid (as water or oil)

4. anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies

  Familiarity information: RESERVOIR used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RESERVOIR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large or extra supply of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Context example:

a reservoir of talent

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

supply (an amount of something available for use)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Lake used to store water for community use

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

artificial lake; man-made lake; reservoir

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

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

Instance hyponyms:

Lake Mead (the largest reservoir in the United States; located in southeastern Nevada and northwestern Arizona and formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River; the center of a recreational area)

Lake Powell (the second largest reservoir in the United States; located in southern Utah and north central Arizona and formed by the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River)

Lake Volta (the Volta river in southeastern has been dammed to create one of the world's largest man-made lakes)

Holonyms ("reservoir" is a part of...):

water; water supply; water system (a facility that provides a source of water)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tank used for collecting and storing a liquid (as water or oil)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

storage tank; tank (a large (usually metallic) vessel for holding gases or liquids)

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

cistern (an artificial reservoir for storing liquids; especially an underground tank for storing rainwater)

sump (an oil reservoir in an internal combustion engine)

water tower (a large reservoir for water)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Anything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

reservoir; source

Context example:

an infectious agent depends on a reservoir for its survival

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

thing (a separate and self-contained entity)

 Context examples 

While cold traps may provide surface deposits of water ice as have been seen at the moon and Mercury, Ceres may have been formed with a relatively greater reservoir of water.

(Dawn Maps Ceres Craters Where Ice Can Accumulate, NASA)

In between the hundreds or even thousands of galaxies in a cluster, there are vast reservoirs of super-heated gas that glow brightly in X-ray light.

(Scientists Surprised by Relentless Cosmic Cold Front, NASA)

A procedure to remove cerebrospinal fluid from the reservoir to detect any abnormal cells.

(Ommaya Reservoir Tap, NCI Thesaurus)

The reservoir’s existence also may be a key to understanding climate history and the potential for life on Mars.

(New Evidence for a Mars Water Reservoir, NASA)

This material gathers into huge turbulent reservoirs of cool, low-density gas, extending more than 30 000 light-years from the galaxy’s star forming region.

(ALMA Finds Huge Hidden Reservoirs of Turbulent Gas in Distant Galaxies, ESO)

These zoonotic viruses are found mostly in rodent reservoirs, although the Tacaribe virus was isolated from a bat.

(Arenavirus, NCI Thesaurus)

Because mountain watersheds provide large reservoirs of water, the new findings are relevant to water resource management throughout the U.S.

(Study explores how rock expands near soil surface in Sierra Nevada, National Science Foundation)

Administration of a drug directly into a cerebral ventricle, commonly using a reservoir.

(Intraventricular Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)

Surface water includes rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

(Drinking Water, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

M. haemophilum has an unknown reservoir and mode of transmission and is known to be pathogenic in immunocompromised individuals.

(Mycobacterium haemophilum, NCI Thesaurus)