canal

American  

[kuh-nal] / kəˈnæl /

noun

• canals
  plural

1. an artificial waterway for navigation, irrigation, etc.

2. a long narrow arm of the sea penetrating far inland.

3. a tubular passage or cavity for food, air, etc., especially in an animal or plant; a duct.

4. channel; watercourse.

5. Astronomy. one of the long, narrow, dark lines on the surface of the planet Mars, as seen telescopically from the earth.

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verb (used with object)

canalled, canaled, canalling, canaling

1. to make a canal through.

canal British  

/ kəˈnæl /

noun

1. an artificial waterway constructed for navigation, irrigation, water power, etc

2. any of various tubular passages or ducts

   the alimentary canal

3. any of various elongated intercellular spaces in plants

4. astronomy any of the indistinct surface features of Mars originally thought to be a network of channels but not seen on close-range photographs. They are caused by an optical illusion in which faint geological features appear to have a geometric structure

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verb

1. to dig a canal through

2. to provide with a canal or canals

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• canals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of canal

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English: “waterpipe, tubular passage,” from Latin canālis, perhaps equivalent to can(na) “reed, pipe” ( see cane) + -ālis -al ¹; canal def. 5 a mistranslation of Italian canali “channels,” the term used by G. V. Schiaparelli

Explanation

A canal is a long, man-made strip of water used for irrigation or boat access to a bigger body of water, like the famous Erie Canal, which connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Canal is related to the word channel, and all its different shades of meaning have to do with tunnel shaped spaces that carry liquid from one place to another. Besides man-made irrigation canals, canals that connect boat docks to rivers and oceans, or street-like canals in boat cities like Amsterdam, there are canals in your body, like your nasal canal, or the birth canal you came out of. It's also a verb meaning "to dig a canal."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

canal canals canaled canalled canalling

The Panama Canal Authority said low water levels in the two artificial lakes that feed the canal forced it to act.

From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026

A man who died after jumping into a canal while fleeing from police near Notting Hill Carnival has been named.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

Paramedics were called and continued treatment at the canal side before taking the man to a central London hospital.

From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026

The canal was already unusually busy as shippers avoided Hormuz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

Some of my schoolmates say the Americans are planning to build a canal in Panama.

From "The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra's Needle" by Dan Gutman

Projects have included blocking irrigation canals to help restore wetlands, strengthening firefighting capabilities, and stepping up efforts to prevent accidental human ignitions.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 6, 2026

These are the standard ingredients of bubbles from canals and railroads to the Great British Bicycle Bubble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026

Amsterdam came alive with music, colour and celebration on Saturday, as thousands of people flocked to the canals to watch the city's annual Pride boat parade.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2026

By contrast, canals such as Panama or Suez, which are man‑made waterways, may be subject to tolls levied by the states that control them.

From Barron's ● Jul. 21, 2026

And so while the rest of us played tag or bowl-the-hoop or had skate races down frozen canals in winter, Betsie sat and did dull grown-up things like embroidery.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

The warmth at his heart annulled whatever of chill stole in at the grayness of the canaled streets of the northern city after the color and glow of Porto.

From Dreamers of the Ghetto by Israel Zangwill

Hindu temples, for the many Guyanese descended from laborers from the Indian subcontinent, dot Georgetown’s canalled streets.

From New York Times ● May 9, 2010

And he should never be blocked in: he should at most be canalled.

From The Invisible Censor by Francis Hackett

Indeed, I never can believe I am at sea at all, on the Atlantic, the passages between New-York and Portsmouth being little more than so much canalling along a tow-path.

From Home as Found by James Fenimore Cooper

The canalling is managed by a Board of Commissioners.

From A New Guide for Emigrants to the West by John Mason Peck

It consists of canalling, improving river navigation, rail-roads, and common turnpike roads.

From A New Guide for Emigrants to the West by John Mason Peck

The spirit of improvement throughout the United States, especially evidenced in canalling, and rail-roads, will, it is hoped, in a few years, open modes of communication, which as yet are wanting, with the markets.

From A New Guide for Emigrants to the West by John Mason Peck

The stern part was taken down the long upper level by a small tug, but teams were employed in towing for all the remaining portions of the canalling.

From A Century of Sail and Steam on the Niagara River by Barlow Cumberland