irrigation

[ ir-i-gey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the artificial application of water to land to assist in the production of crops.
2. Medicine/Medical. the flushing or washing out of anything with water or other liquid.
3. the state of being irrigated.

irrigation

1. Artificial provision of water to sustain growing plants.

Notes

Irrigation accounts for the greatest part of water usage in the western United States.

Other Words From

• irri·gation·al adjective
• nonir·ri·gation noun
• over·irri·gation noun
• preir·ri·gation noun
• preir·ri·gation·al adjective
• proir·ri·gation adjective
• reir·ri·gation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of irrigation¹

First recorded in 1605–15, irrigation is from the Latin word irrigātiōn- (stem of irrigātiō ). See irrigate, -ion

Example Sentences

They store winter snow and rain and release moisture slowly to rivers for downstream irrigation and municipal supplies during the state’s dry summers.

From Popular-Science

Some farms employ dozens of whipping water sprinklers that toss irrigation into the air before hitting the soil in 108-degree heat.

From Voice of San Diego

In a region with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons, access to water can also be an issue, but to get around this, Ouko tops off his pond with water from his irrigation dam when the need arises.

From Ozy

A Ceres image of one customer’s fields highlights parts of an orchard in yellow where irrigation equipment may have clogged or broken down, Madgavkar explains.

From Fortune

Much of the Ogallala Aquifer — which supplies nearly a third of the nation’s irrigation groundwater — could be gone by the end of the century.

From ProPublica

Each year their fields need at least 53 billion cubic meters of water for irrigation.

From The Daily Beast

The giant irrigation projects began in the 1960s in the dry lands of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

From The Daily Beast

The air mixed with fertilizers and pesticides that for decades were washed from the fields into the sea by irrigation water.

From The Daily Beast

It thus falls to IS to provide drinking water and irrigation to massive areas of farmland.

From The Daily Beast

This process can be mechanically assisted by deep belly massages and, yes, colonic irrigation.

From The Daily Beast

Water itself is of course essential to the growth of every plant, but the benefits of Irrigation reach far beyond this.

From Project Gutenberg

One company also has irrigation works, and ready-made farms for settlers in the prairie provinces.

From Project Gutenberg

Shallow in most places, it was full of hidden wire and crisscrossed with irrigation ditches.

From Project Gutenberg

The interior plateau may be described as arid, so that irrigation is required if crops are to be raised.

From Project Gutenberg

Irrigation is necessary for successful agriculture, and there are few spots where water flows.

From Project Gutenberg