dam
noun
a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river.
dam
1 American
[dam]
/ dæm /
noun
-
a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river.
-
a body of water confined by a dam.
-
any barrier resembling a dam.
dam
2
American
[dam]
/ dæm /
noun
dam
3
American
abbreviation
Dam
4
American
[dam, dahm]
/ dæm, dɑm /
noun
dam
1
British
/ dæm /
noun
-
a barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc
-
a reservoir of water created by such a barrier
-
something that resembles or functions as a dam
verb
Dam
2
British
/ dam /
noun
dam
3
British
/ dæm /
noun
dam
4
British
/ dæm /
interjection
dam
5
British
symbol
dam
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
damsimple
-
damssimple
-
have dammedperfect
-
has dammedperfect
-
am dammingprogressive
-
are dammingprogressive
-
is dammingprogressive
-
have been dammingperfect progressive
-
has been dammingperfect progressive
Past
-
dammedsimple
-
had dammedperfect
-
was dammingprogressive
-
were dammingprogressive
-
had been dammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dam1
1275–1325; Middle English < Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, dam; akin to Old English for-demman to stop up, block
Origin of dam2
1250–1300; Middle English; variant of dame
Explanation
A barrier built to block the flow of water is called a dam. If you walk along a stream, you can see where beavers have built a dam out of mud and logs. As a verb, dam means to obstruct or blockade as with a dam. If the kids you're babysitting dam up the bathtub drain when you're not paying attention, the water might overflow and cause a waterfall into the living room downstairs. But water isn't the only thing that can be dammed. You shouldn't dam up your emotions — go ahead and scream if you need to.
Vocabulary lists containing dam
"A Modest Proposal," Vocabulary from the satire
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
East Asia - Middle School
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
East Asia - Introductory
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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.
See Examples For:
One morning last month, Paxon, now a 79-year-old county commissioner, pointed to where the diminished reservoir lapped at the base of the 301-foot dam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
In 2024, crews finished demolishing four dams on the Klamath River, completing the largest dam removal effort in U.S. history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Back at the state fair, Sheryl Bach, a 77-year-old retired administrative clerk who worked at a dam, said she did not vote in the 2024 presidential contest between Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
That happened back in 2023, after nine years of campaigning, and halted the construction of a hydropower dam that would have damaged the ecosystem.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Mami, Baby, and the other manatees upstream of the dam were cut off forever from those downstream and in the sea.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
When combined, the fighter jets and air defence systems "create a significant capability to protect and defend major cities and critical infrastructure such as the Renaissance Dam, providing key strategic air superiority," Qalaab said.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026
As I have written before, Hoover Dam made today’s West, but also strapped it into the straitjacket of an implacable water shortage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Oleshky was flooded after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Satellite images captured the dramatic change in Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
The view of the Péligre Dam and its immense lake and the land it had drowned was, so to speak, another mountain to Farmer.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, but production drops off in the dry season and critics lament the ecological impacts.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
Apart from tackling the ongoing haze, this exercise was aimed at boosting declining water levels at several hydropower dams ahead of a severe dry spell forecast for October.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
New dams and debris basins turned the vast natural waterways and springs and creeks of old L.A. into a chutes-and-ladders system to divert and hold back water and mud, before the next time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
The roiling mass of water, unleashed by a glacial collapse, swept down the Trishuli river, devastating a roughly 40-mile corridor of dams that were supposed to drive economic growth for mountainous Nepal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
Down the ravine, west of the hill above the springhouse, Harry had built three wonderful little dams.
From "Miracles on Maple Hill" by Virginia Sorensen
Late one night in October 2023, part of the shelf of rocks and ice that dammed the lake in northeast India collapsed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
He traveled around New England and wrote about it, looking for nature at its most untamed, but sometimes finding mills and factories and a river dammed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026
Some Alaskans are evacuating their homes as meltwater escapes a basin dammed by the Mendenhall Glacier - raising fears of record-breaking flooding in the US state's capital city.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2025
The process dirtied lakes, cut down forests and dammed up rivers.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 8, 2024
That night Fayge began to speak, as if the words so long dammed up had risen to flood.
From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen
That mass of rock and ice plunged about 800 metres onto a debris-covered glacier, before surging downhill, briefly damming the Lhende River.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
The creation of the reservoir, which involved damming the Gwash valley near Empingham, was finished in 1976 and flooding took a further three years, Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust said.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
For decades, damming rivers has generated bitter fights in places around the world, and international lenders have come under pressure not to support new projects.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 15, 2026
Andrew Law, a sociologist at Newcastle University in the U.K., has used lidar mapping to digitally preserve structures along China’s Yangtze River that were threatened or wiped out by extensive damming.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2025
But the Dreamers have improved themselves, and the damming of seas for voltage, the extraction of coal, the transmuting of oil into food, have enabled an expansion in plunder with no known precedent.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
