beach
noun
an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore.
beach
1 American
[beech]
/ bitʃ /
noun
beaches
plural
verb (used with object)
beaches,
present (3rd person singular)
beached,
past participle, past
beaching
present participle
-
Nautical. to haul or run onto a beach.
We beached the ship to save it.
-
to make inoperative or unemployed.
- Synonyms:
- ground
Beach
2
American
[beech]
/ bitʃ /
noun
-
Alfred Ely, 1826–96, U.S. editor, publisher, and inventor.
-
Amy Marcey Cheney 1867–1944, U.S. composer and pianist.
-
Moses Yale, 1800–68, U.S. newspaper publisher.
-
Rex Ellingwood 1877–1949, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.
-
Sylvia Woodbridge, 1887–1962, U.S. bookseller and publisher in France.
beach
British
/ biːtʃ /
noun
verb
beach
Scientific
/ bēch /
Synonym Usage
See shore 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
beachsimple
-
beachessimple
-
have beachedperfect
-
has beachedperfect
-
am beachingprogressive
-
are beachingprogressive
-
is beachingprogressive
-
have been beachingperfect progressive
-
has been beachingperfect progressive
Past
-
beachedsimple
-
had beachedperfect
-
was beachingprogressive
-
were beachingprogressive
-
had been beachingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of beach
First recorded in 1525–35; of obscure origin
Explanation
You know that wide, flat patch of sand that leads down to the sea, or maybe even the lake? That's a beach, one of the most beautiful places in the world. During a long, stormy winter, a beach can erode and move. The word beach can also be used more generally to describe a town or vacation spot along the ocean or sea. In New Jersey, they call it the shore. But in lots of other places, people say they're going to the beach when they mean they are taking a trip to the seaside for vacation. Of course, if you beach your boat, you might not be overjoyed: that means you've run it aground, usually on a choice pile of sand.
Vocabulary lists containing beach
"maggie and milly and molly and may"
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Spelling Practice 2, Unit 5
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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.
See Examples For:
With the scrape Debbie and Judith find themselves in, a beach holiday is out of the question.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
Rode my bike 21 miles on the beach yesterday in 95-degree weather.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
The 43-year-old and her family arrived at the beach at about 11:00, and recalled seeing the victims having a "great time" together.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
He called a Times reporter during his incarceration and said he had been arrested for damaging a bench near the beach shortly after his return.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
It’s barely eight thirty and the main parking lot for the beach is already at capacity.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
He wore the mustache in honor of his father, Alan, a longtime police officer who also taught at Long Beach State before retiring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Those items are reminders of the work ethic, drive and connection to family that defined Kent’s trek from Huntington Beach to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2026
Euroz Hartleys is more optimistic than the market about Beach Energy’s dividends in FY26.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
People have described how bystanders rushed to the water to help, including teenagers who worked at the nearby Seaview Beach Diner and an off-duty paramedic.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Truth is, we need him—plus when it comes to water, he’s the person to know; without him, I’m not sure we’d have the rations to safely make the journey down to Laguna Beach and back.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
The iconic D-Day landing beaches in Normandy were on Sunday inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List, marking the culmination of a project launched nearly two decades ago.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
The crowds were a welcome boon for the bartenders, enlivening what is usually a lull at Joxer Daly’s, which is away from the beaches and beer gardens where customers gather in the summer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
We didn’t have whales, just freshwater fish like alewifes, which stunk up the beaches with annual die-offs that occurred in huge numbers.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
It is a popular area with British families for its sandy beaches, and Villa Francisca, a two-bedroom villa, is described on booking websites as "an ideal choice for a family holiday in the sun".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
I cleared my throat and said, “All we’ve got here are beaches, but you already know about those.”
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
The image of the beached horse first lodged in Nolan’s mind over 20 years ago when he was in the running to direct a movie based on another Homeric epic, “The Iliad.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
But I can choose to recognize that some performers, artistic works and brands are simply too big to fail or bury, so they become some version of a beached grey whale’s corpse.
From Salon ● May 14, 2026
Vonk and his team ensure the country is ready for extreme scenarios: a drought meaning all inland shipping is beached or a devastating storm surge.
From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025
At one point the overloaded boat appeared to be beached on a sand bar by the retreating tide but then it moved further out to sea.
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2024
Janice Avery had given him nothing but trouble, and now he was feeling responsible for her—like one of the Burkes’ timber wolves or beached whales.
From "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson
A humpback whale rescued after beaching itself in Germany has been found dead near a Danish island.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
A humpback whale that underwent a rescue operation in Germany two weeks ago after beaching itself there has been found dead near a Danish island, officials said Saturday.
From Barron's ● May 16, 2026
But besides beating seasonal crowds, winter beaching has another leg up on summer: storm watching.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2024
A spokesperson from the National Weather Service in Monterey attributed high tides for beaching the bomb.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024
Carefully, we inched the Miss Amanda around the sandbar without beaching her until we were directly above the deep water.
From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings
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.
