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Congo Basin

American  
[kong-goh bey-sin] / ˈkɒŋ goʊ ˌbeɪ sɪn /

noun

  1. the sedimentary basin of the Congo River, located in central Africa, covering approximately 1.4 million sq. mi. (3.7 million sq. km), including great wetlands and vast stands of unspoiled tropical rainforest.

Etymology

Origin of Congo Basin

First recorded in 1880–85

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.

Previously, scientists believed that carbon stored in Congo Basin peat remained locked away for extremely long periods and would only be released under specific conditions such as extended drought.

From Science Daily • Feb. 24, 2026

It rains almost all year round in Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur province in the dense rainforest of the Congo Basin of central Africa.

From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025

Its territory, which sits astride the equator, encompasses some of the most biodiverse tracts of the Congo Basin rainforest.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2025

Bonobos, meanwhile, live only in a relatively isolated portion of the Congo Basin that has no mountains, and consequently, no gorillas.

From Science Magazine • Apr. 12, 2024

Burnham explored a tract of land larger than Germany, penetrating a thousand miles through a country, never before visited by white men, to the borders of the Congo Basin.

From Real Soldiers of Fortune by Davis, Richard Harding

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.