WATERFALL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does waterfall mean? 

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

1. a steep descent of the water of a river

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• WATERFALL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A steep descent of the water of a river

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

falls; waterfall

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

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

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

cascade (a small waterfall or series of small waterfalls)

cataract (a large waterfall; violent rush of water over a precipice)

Instance hyponyms:

Paulo Afonso; Paulo Afonso Falls (a major waterfall in northeastern Brazil)

Yosemite; Yosemite Falls (a series of waterfalls in Yosemite National Park in California; is reduced to a trickle for part of each year)

Victoria; Victoria Falls (a waterfall in the Zambezi River on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia; diminishes seasonally)

Urubupunga; Urubupunga Falls (a waterfall in the Parana river in Brazil)

Twin; Twin Falls (a waterfall in the Snake River in southern Idaho)

Tugela; Tugela Falls (a major waterfall in southern Africa; has more than one leap)

Takakkaw (a waterfall in southeastern British Columbia; the highest waterfall in Canada (1250 feet high))

Guaira; Guaira Falls; Sete Quedas (a great waterfall on the border between Brazil and Paraguay)

American Falls (a part of Niagara Falls in western New York (north of Buffalo))

Niagara; Niagara Falls (waterfall in Canada is the Horseshoe Falls; in the United States it is the American Falls)

Iguassu; Iguassu Falls; Iguazu; Iguazu Falls; Victoria Falls (a large waterfall on the border between Argentina and Brazil)

Cuquenan; Cuquenan Falls; Kukenaam; Kukenaam Falls (a famous waterfall in Venezuela)

Canadian Falls; Horseshoe Falls (a part of Niagara Falls in Ontario)

Angel; Angel Falls (the highest waterfall; has more than one leap; flow varies seasonally)

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

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

 Context examples 

Gentle sound stimulation — such as the rush of a waterfall — synchronized to the rhythm of brain waves significantly enhanced deep sleep in older adults and improved their ability to recall words.

(Sound Waves Boost Older Adult' Memory, Deep Sleep, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The immense mountains and precipices that overhung me on every side, the sound of the river raging among the rocks, and the dashing of the waterfalls around spoke of a power mighty as Omnipotence—and I ceased to fear or to bend before any being less almighty than that which had created and ruled the elements, here displayed in their most terrific guise.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

Then, too, she loved nature, and with generous imagination he changed the scene of their reading—sometimes they read in closed-in valleys with precipitous walls, or in high mountain meadows, and, again, down by the gray sand-dunes with a wreath of billows at their feet, or afar on some volcanic tropic isle where waterfalls descended and became mist, reaching the sea in vapor veils that swayed and shivered to every vagrant wisp of wind.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Let us rest here, said St. John, as we reached the first stragglers of a battalion of rocks, guarding a sort of pass, beyond which the beck rushed down a waterfall; and where, still a little farther, the mountain shook off turf and flower, had only heath for raiment and crag for gem—where it exaggerated the wild to the savage, and exchanged the fresh for the frowning—where it guarded the forlorn hope of solitude, and a last refuge for silence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)