VALLEY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does valley mean? 

• VALLEY (noun)
  The noun VALLEY has 1 sense:

1. a long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river

  Familiarity information: VALLEY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• VALLEY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long depression in the surface of the land that usually contains a river

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

vale; valley

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

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

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

dale (an open river valley (in a hilly area))

glen (a narrow secluded valley (in the mountains))

gully (deep ditch cut by running water (especially after a prolonged downpour))

holler; hollow (a small valley between mountains)

nullah (a ravine or gully in southern Asia)

ravine (a deep narrow steep-sided valley (especially one formed by running water))

rift valley (a valley with steep sides; formed by a rift in the earth's crust)

Instance hyponyms:

Nemea (a valley in southeastern Greece where the Nemean Games were held)

Loire Valley (the valley of the Loire River where many French wines originated)

San Fernando Valley (a fertile valley in southern California to the north of Los Angeles; includes many residential communities)

San Joaquin Valley (a vast valley in central California known for its rich farmland)

Shenandoah Valley (a large valley between the Allegheny Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains in northern Virginia; site of numerous battles during the American Civil War)

 Context examples 

I came, one evening before sunset, down into a valley, where I was to rest.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I pray you to draw a flight shaft with all your strength down the valley, that we may see the length of your shoot.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They walked along the road through the valley, and chiefly in silence, for Marianne's MIND could not be controlled, and Elinor, satisfied with gaining one point, would not then attempt more.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

After that he left that part of the country and journeyed over to the valley wherein he had been born.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Soon after, I entered the valley of Chamounix.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He knew a valley and a bay in the Marquesas that he could buy for a thousand Chili dollars.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There are great moors behind and on each hand of me; there are waves of mountains far beyond that deep valley at my feet.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the summers there is one visitor, however, to that valley, of which the Yeehats do not know.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

With that he put his money into his purse, and set out, roaming over hill and valley.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Mercury’s great valley is bound by two large fault scarps—cliff-like landforms that resemble stair steps.

(‘Great Valley’ Found on Mercury, NASA)