alluvial
Americanadjective
noun
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alluvial soil.
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Australia. gold-bearing alluvial soil.
adjective
noun
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another name for alluvium
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alluvium containing any heavy mineral, esp gold
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of alluvial
First recorded in 1795–1805; alluvi(um) + -al 1
Explanation
Alluvial refers to the stuff left behind by running water. Think of a city in the aftermath of a flood — streets littered with things that had once been floating — tree branches, parts of buildings, and lots of sand and silt. Alluvial comes from the Latin word for washed, but the stuff water leaves behind doesn't often feel clean. In fact, the word is so closely associated with leftover debris that its meaning goes beyond flooding. If you have a party when your parents are out of town, you’d better get up early and clean up all the alluvial evidence.
Vocabulary lists containing alluvial
Water Hazard: Words for Too Much Moisture
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Canada - Middle School and High School
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Cosmos
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
So, farmers have long relied on the shallow Alluvial Aquifer for water in the scorching summers.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 25, 2023
“Most people in the industry I speak with are worried,” said Dimieari Von Kemedi, managing director of Alluvial Agriculture, a farm collective.
From Reuters • Apr. 24, 2020
Alluvial fans are a depositional landform created where streams emerge from mountain canyons into a valley.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
Alluvial fans are common in the dry climates of the West where ephemeral streams emerge from canyons in the ranges of the Basin and Range.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017
Alluvial lands are cultivated in Indian corn from five to ten years successively, and then laid down in grass indeterminately from three to forty years.
From Lands of the Slave and the Free Cuba, the United States, and Canada by Murray, Henry A.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
