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catchment

American  
[kach-muhnt] / ˈkætʃ mənt /

noun

  1. the act of catching water.

  2. something for catching water, as a reservoir or basin.

  3. the water that is caught in such a catchment.


catchment British  
/ ˈkætʃmənt /

noun

  1. the act of catching or collecting water

  2. a structure in which water is collected

  3. the water so collected

  4. 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

Etymology

Origin of catchment

First recorded in 1840–50; catch + -ment


Vocabulary lists containing catchment

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:

A draft of the study didn’t propose only one solution but advocated for 23 different strategies, including bluff stabilization, catchment walls, sand placement, engineered revetments or seawalls and rail-foundation improvements.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Hounslow councillor Katherine Dunne said officers in Ealing and Brent were examining misconnections through a River Brent catchment group, and committee chair councillor Dan Bowring urged residents to contact their ward councillors.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

Water voles use to be fairly common in the Hogsmill River catchment but the species, immortalised as Ratty in The Wind in the Willows, was "locally extinct" until 2025.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

The school had 13 pupils in the 2025/26 academic year, but that number is forecast to fall to just eight as the majority of the pupils in the catchment area are sent elsewhere.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

A hundred thousand people lived in the dam catchment area, but up to a million peasant farmers, coming from far away, relied on the clinic.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

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