valley

American  

[val-ee] / ˈvæl i /

noun

PLURAL

valleys

1. an elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains, especially one following the course of a stream.

2. an extensive, more or less flat, and relatively low region drained by a great river system.

3. any depression or hollow resembling a valley.

4. a low point or interval in any process, representation, or situation.

5. any place, period, or situation that is filled with fear, gloom, foreboding, or the like.

   the valley of despair.

6. Architecture.  a depression or angle formed by the meeting of two inclined sides of a roof.

7. the lower phase of a horizontal wave motion.

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valley British  

/ ˈvælɪ /

noun

1. a long depression in the land surface, usually containing a river, formed by erosion or by movements in the earth's crust

2. the broad area drained by a single river system

   the Thames valley

3. any elongated depression resembling a valley

4. the junction of a roof slope with another or with a wall

5. (modifier) relating to or proceeding by way of a valley

   a valley railway

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valley Scientific  

/ văl′ē /

1. A long, narrow region of low land between ranges of mountains, hills, or other high areas, often having a river or stream running along the bottom. Valleys are most commonly formed through the erosion of land by rivers or glaciers. They also form where large regions of land are lowered because of geological faults.

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Other Word Forms

• intervalley noun
• valleylike adjective

Etymology

Origin of valley

1250–1300; Middle English valeie, valey < Old French valee, equivalent to val vale ( def. ) + -ee < Latin -āta, feminine of -ātus -ate ¹

Example Sentences

This area contains a series of long, shallow grooves set within a landscape of deep valleys, scattered impact craters, and surface textures that point to a distant ice age on the Red Planet.

From Science Daily

Birds sing and the Lukaya River burbles along the valley floor.

From Barron's

All three sections brim with short essays on various plant species such as rose, clover, iris, violet, daisy and lily of the valley, which Dior fashioned into silhouettes and blossoming decorative surfaces.

From The Wall Street Journal

The valley is where, in 1970, Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers launched their Salad Bowl strike, the largest farmworker labor action in U.S. history.

From Los Angeles Times

With fertile soil, abundant sunshine and moist coastal air, the funnel-shaped valley is noted for long growing seasons and a wide array of crops.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• basin
• canyon
• gorge
• lowland
• plain