inlet
Americannoun
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inlets
plural
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an indentation of a shoreline, usually long and narrow; small bay or arm.
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a narrow passage between islands.
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a place of admission; entrance.
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something put in or inserted.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a narrow inland opening of the coastline
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an entrance or opening
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the act of letting someone or something in
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something let in or inserted
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a passage, valve, or part through which a substance, esp a fluid, enters a device or machine
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( as modifier )
an inlet valve
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verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of inlet
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at in, let 1
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:
Questions have been raised since the boy's death about safety measures at the culvert inlet with a particular focus on whether a hatch alongside steel bars was locked.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Newton and Noss Creeks, Devon – a narrow tidal inlet just off the River Yealm in the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
It also employs variable inlet geometry that instantly and precisely meters boost, air charge and bypass, reducing throttle latency and increasing efficiency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026
Scotland's First Minister John Swinney however expressed dismay that he had only heard about the tanker being in the Scottish inlet of Moray Firth via media reports.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
We paddle the two-person kayaks around the bay side under Windemere to an inlet.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
The whales feast all summer long, and only then embark on a 6,000-mile journey south to Mexico, where females calve and nurse their young in the warm and protected inlets along the Baja Peninsula.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2024
“Fewer than two dozen inlets have been identified” with this damage, said Kowal.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
Many will focus on the innovative cooling inlets beside the cockpit.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2024
Suddenly, at the beach, there was life everywhere: fish frothing in the surf, fish flooding inlets.
From Slate ● Feb. 4, 2024
Two dozen coves and inlets, each with its pleasant muddle of sailboats and summer homes, ran the circumference of San Piedro, an endless series of pristine anchorages.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
She was about to reach and, as Ab supposed, pass one of the inletting paths entering almost at right angles from the left.
From The Story of Ab A Tale of the Time of the Cave Man by Stanley Waterloo
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.
