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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
Coffee gives the example of a basketball court in the Netherlands that also serves as a giant storm drain, with seating around the edges that channels rainwater down into a cistern under the court.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
“The cistern on my toilet has been constantly refilling and making a hissing noise.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
They fixed the constant flow of water, but now, whenever I flush, I have to lift the lid and manually reset the cistern.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
She’s taken, perversely, with John the Baptist, imprisoned in a cistern and prophesying doom for the decadent, Godless heathens, Salome in particular.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
In the wild chase around the building the biggest dog struck the tin drainpipe, and it clattered down the wall and bounced on the cement top of the cistern.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
They plan to put plants into the built-in containers above their backyard cisterns.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026
But another island, Stromboli, still depends on ships with water cisterns.
From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026
When it runs out, he jumps from one rooftop to another to gather buckets of water from nearby cisterns.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026
The freshwater cisterns that the monkeys relied on as a water source were destroyed.
From Salon ● Mar. 16, 2025
It was always hard labor—digging cisterns, building roads, hauling bricks, crushing rocks.
From "Surviving Hitler: A Boy in the Nazi Death Camps" by Andrea Warren
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.
