WATERSHED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does watershed mean? 

• WATERSHED (noun)
  The noun WATERSHED has 3 senses:

1. a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems

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

3. an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend

  Familiarity information: WATERSHED used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WATERSHED (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

divide; water parting; watershed

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

line (a spatial location defined by a real or imaginary unidimensional extent)

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

continental divide (the watershed of a continent (especially the watershed of North America formed by a series of mountain ridges extending from Alaska to Mexico))

Instance hyponyms:

Great Divide (that part of the continental divide formed by the Rocky Mountains in the United States)

Sense 2

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 ("watershed" 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 "watershed"):

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 3

Meaning:

An event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

landmark; turning point; watershed

Context example:

the agreement was a watershed in the history of both nations

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

juncture; occasion (an event that occurs at a critical time)

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

Fall of Man ((Judeo-Christian mythology) when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, God punished them by driving them out of the Garden of Eden and into the world where they would be subject to sickness and pain and eventual death)

road to Damascus (a sudden turning point in a person's life (similar to the sudden conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus of arrest Christians))

 Context examples 

The Australian team describes the membrane technology that separates hydrogen from other gases as a “watershed moment for energy.”

(Cars Powered by New Fuel Type Tested in Australia, VOA)

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)

“Dead zones,” also called hypoxia areas, are caused by nutrient runoff from agricultural and other human activities in the watershed and are highly affected by river discharge and nitrogen loads.

(2015 Gulf of Mexico dead zone ‘above average’, NOAA)

Grey Beaver had crossed the great watershed between Mackenzie and the Yukon in the late winter, and spent the spring in hunting among the western outlying spurs of the Rockies.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

On the opposite slope of the watershed they came down into a level country where were great stretches of forest and many streams, and through these great stretches they ran steadily, hour after hour, the sun rising higher and the day growing warmer.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

This large dead zone size shows that nutrient pollution, primarily from agriculture and developed land runoff in the Mississippi River watershed is continuing to affect the nation’s coastal resources and habitats in the Gulf.

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

The larger than expected forecast was caused by heavy June rains throughout the Mississippi River watershed.

(2015 Gulf of Mexico dead zone ‘above average’, NOAA)

He was oppressed with a sense of calamity happening, if it were not calamity already happened; and as he crossed the last watershed and dropped down into the valley toward camp, he proceeded with greater caution.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

The measured size this year is larger than the 5,052 square miles measured last year, indicating that nutrients from the Mississippi River watershed are continuing to affect the nation’s coastal resources and habitats in the Gulf.

(2015 Gulf of Mexico dead zone ‘above average’, NOAA)