brackish
Americanadjective
-
somewhat salty or briny, as the water in an estuary or salt marsh, which is not as salty as the sea but saltier than a river.
These brackish swamps are some of the state’s most important ecosystems.
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The coffee was brackish and stale.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of brackish
First recorded in 1550–60; from Dutch brak “salty” + -ish 1 (in the sense “somewhat”)
Explanation
Something that is brackish is unpleasant and harsh, like the coffee you left on too long or the water in a muddy pond. The adjective brackish has roots in the Dutch word brac, meaning salty, and the word is used literally to describe water that is salty. You’ll often find brackish water in areas where salty seawater mixes with freshwater, such as "the brackish water of a Louisiana bayou." The word can be used more generally, however, to describe something that is distasteful and harsh, not just salty. When used in this way you’ll still most likely hear the term applied to liquids, such as a brackish tea that makes you wrinkle your nose when you taste it.
Vocabulary lists containing brackish
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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Something's Fishy: A Fresh Catch of Aquatic Words
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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.
The company added it was "exploring opportunities" for solar energy and battery storage on site, and it would make use of "non-potable, brackish groundwater" which it said would avoid putting pressure on the watershed.
From Barron's ● Aug. 7, 2026
There’s also a community of green sea turtles living in a brackish area near the mouth of the San Gabriel River — something many Angelenos are unaware of.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
McNulty believes heavy rainfall over the weekend and brackish water conditions could have created a "perfect storm environment" for Sunday's attack.
From BBC ● Jan. 19, 2026
As freshwater input grew, the seaway gradually changed from salty to brackish and eventually to mostly freshwater, similar to conditions seen today in the Gulf of Bothnia.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 15, 2025
My sensitivity to the world around me made me soak all its suffering like a sponge soaking brackish water.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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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.
