Library / English Dictionary

WATER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A facility that provides a source of water

Example:

first you have to cut off the water

Synonyms:

water; water supply; water system

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

facility; installation (a building or place that provides a particular service or is used for a particular industry)

Meronyms (parts of "water"):

artificial lake; man-made lake; reservoir (lake used to store water for community use)

water main (main (a pipe or conduit) for conveying water)

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

base; infrastructure (the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A liquid necessary for the life of most animals and plants

Example:

he asked for a drink of water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

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

food; nutrient (any substance that can be metabolized by an animal to give energy and build tissue)

nutrient (any substance (such as a chemical element or inorganic compound) that can be taken in by a green plant and used in organic synthesis)

liquid (a substance that is liquid at room temperature and pressure)

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

branch water (pure natural water from a stream or brook; often distinguished from soda water)

spring water (water from a spring)

drinking water (water suitable for drinking)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Example:

they were sitting by the water's edge

Synonyms:

body of water; water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

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

thing (a separate and self-contained entity)

Meronyms (substance 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 "water"):

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

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

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)

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

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))

waterway (a navigable body of water)

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)

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

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

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

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

Sense 4

Meaning:

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

Synonyms:

H2O; water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

liquid (fluid matter having no fixed shape but a fixed volume)

binary compound (chemical compound composed of only two elements)

Meronyms (substance of "water"):

atomic number 8; O; oxygen (a nonmetallic bivalent element that is normally a colorless odorless tasteless nonflammable diatomic gas; constitutes 21 percent of the atmosphere by volume; the most abundant element in the earth's crust)

atomic number 1; H; hydrogen (a nonmetallic univalent element that is normally a colorless and odorless highly flammable diatomic gas; the simplest and lightest and most abundant element in the universe)

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

water of crystallisation; water of crystallization; water of hydration (the water present in hydrated compounds)

bilge; bilge water (water accumulated in the bilge of a ship)

soft water (water that is not hard (does not contain mineral salts that interfere with the formation of lather with soap))

slush (partially melted snow)

fresh water; freshwater (water that is not salty)

brine; saltwater; seawater (water containing salts)

meltwater (melted snow or ice)

limewater (solution of calcium hydroxide in water used as an antacid)

hard water (water that contains mineral salts (as calcium and magnesium ions) that limit the formation of lather with soap)

ground water; spring water; well water (underground water that is held in the soil and in pervious rocks)

holy water (water that has been blessed by a priest for use in symbolic purification)

distilled water (water that has been purified by distillation)

dishwater (water in which dishes and cooking utensils are washed)

bath water (water used for a bath)

tap water (water directly from the spigot)

Holonyms ("water" is a substance of...):

ice; water ice (water frozen in the solid state)

diamond dust; frost mist; frost snow; ice crystal; ice needle; poudrin; snow mist (small crystals of ice)

flake; snowflake (a crystal of snow)

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

perspiration; sudor; sweat (salty fluid secreted by sweat glands)

tear; teardrop (a drop of the clear salty saline solution secreted by the lacrimal glands)

Derivation:

water (supply with water, as with channels or ditches or streams)

water (provide with water)

watery (relating to or resembling or consisting of water)

watery (filled with water)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Once thought to be one of four elements composing the universe (Empedocles)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

element (one of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe)

Domain usage:

archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Liquid excretory product

Example:

the child had to make water

Synonyms:

pee; piddle; piss; urine; water; weewee

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

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

body waste; excrement; excreta; excretion; excretory product (waste matter (as urine or sweat but especially feces) discharged from the body)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Secrete or form water, as tears or saliva

Example:

His eyes watered

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "water" is one way to...):

release; secrete (generate and separate from cells or bodily fluids)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Supply with water, as with channels or ditches or streams

Example:

Water the fields

Synonyms:

irrigate; water

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "water" is one way to...):

wet (cause to become wet)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "water"):

hose; hose down (water with a hose)

flush (cause to flow or flood with or as if with water)

hush (run water over the ground to erode (soil), revealing the underlying strata and valuable minerals)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

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)

waterer (someone who waters plants or crops)

watering (wetting with water)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fill with tears

Example:

His eyes were watering

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "water" is one way to...):

fill; fill up (become full)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

watering (shedding tears)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Provide with water

Example:

We watered the buffalo

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "water" is one way to...):

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

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)

waterer (an assistant who supplies drinking water)

waterer (someone who waters plants or crops)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"We must go and search for water," she said to him.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I give you my word that for three days I have tasted neither food nor drink until you were good enough to pour me out that glass of water.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now, I pray you, Alleyne, if a man were to take a ship and spread sail across yonder waters, where might he hope to arrive?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“They’re weak as water, if you want to know,” came the reply from one of the men.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Poor Harry Jekyll, he thought, my mind misgives me he is in deep waters!

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The quiet water had become suddenly angry.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

At any rate, the boat sank by the stern, quite gently, in three feet of water, leaving the captain and myself, facing each other, on our feet.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Dead zones are a major water quality issue with an estimated total of more than 550 occurring annually worldwide.

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

I was exceedingly dry, so I lay down and took a long draught of its waters, which were fresh and cold.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I ran to the back and got some water, but I could not bring her to.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)