cistern
Americannoun
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a reservoir, tank, or container for storing or holding water or other liquid.
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Anatomy. a reservoir or receptacle of some natural fluid of the body.
noun
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a tank for the storage of water, esp on or within the roof of a house or connected to a WC
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an underground reservoir for the storage of a liquid, esp rainwater
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anatomy another name for cisterna
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cistern
1250–1300; Middle English cistern ( e ) < Latin cisterna, equivalent to cist ( a ) ( see cist 1) + -erna noun suffix
Explanation
A cistern is an underground tank that holds water. A long time ago, cistern water was used for drinking, but nowadays developed parts of the world mainly use it for watering plants and flushing toilets. The oldest cisterns that we know of were built in the Middle East about 12,000 years ago, which is around when farming was invented. That's no coincidence. It would be tough to collect enough water to grow barley and wheat without storing the water in something, especially in a place as dry as the Middle East.
Vocabulary lists containing cistern
The Magician's Nephew
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Surviving Hitler
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Civil Engineering
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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 court heard Nath - after realising he had been "rumbled" - threw the bottle of Madagascar vanilla extract into a toilet cistern but it was later recovered by police.
From BBC • Feb. 6, 2026
“When I drive through my neighborhood, there are plenty of little park spaces, public spaces, where you could put a really large cistern that firefighters could tap into,” Quinn said.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 2025
External sprinklers that draw from cistern, pool or other water source via a pump.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 17, 2025
Near the village of Jaun, a construction crew was laying pipes to deliver electricity and water from a new cistern to six local farms.
From New York Times • Jan. 21, 2024
The cistern was overflowing with all the rain we’d had, so I spent two pitchers of it on my salty, sandy, weary body.
From "Beyond the Bright Sea" by Lauren Wolk
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.
