catchment

[ kach-muhnt ]

/ ˈkætʃ mənt /

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noun

the act of catching water.

something for catching water, as a reservoir or basin.

the water that is caught in such a catchment.

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Origin of catchment

First recorded in 1840–50; catch + -ment

Words nearby catchment

catching pen, catch in the act, catch it, catch lightning in a bottle, catchline, catchment, catchment area, Catchment board, catch napping, catch off guard, catch on

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use catchment in a sentence

Residents also took matters into their own hands, collecting water from the natural springs and installing rain catchment systems if they had the means.
Day Zero still looms over Cape Town|Joseph Dana|December 23, 2021|MIT Technology Review
During the growing season in spring and summer, there is almost no rain, so he draws from a water catchment pond, where he stores it from the wet through dry season.
The Ecology of Good Weed - Issue 104: Harmony|Madison Margolin|August 25, 2021|Nautilus
These people simply squat down wherever they can find a natural catchment for water.
Campaign Pictures of the War in South Africa (1899-1900)|A. G. Hales
The men nearest would arrange catchment areas of plates and flower bowls.
The New Machiavelli|Herbert George Wells

He was off to see to another of his father's interests—that "catchment area" far away up in the mountains.
Mushroom Town|Oliver Onions
The noblest and most-varied scenery in the north-west Himalaya is in the catchment area of the Jhelam.
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir|Sir James McCrone Douie
The Sutle; has a course of 900 miles, and a large catchment area in the hills.
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir|Sir James McCrone Douie

British Dictionary definitions for catchment

catchment

/ (ˈkætʃmənt) /

noun

the act of catching or collecting water

a structure in which water is collected

the water so collected

British the intake of a school from one catchment area

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012