continental divide

American  

noun

1. a divide separating river systems that flow to opposite sides of a continent.

2. Continental Divide. (inNorth America ) the line of summits of the Rocky Mountains, separating streams flowing toward the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean from those flowing toward the Gulf of Mexico, Hudson Bay, and the Arctic Ocean.

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continental divide British  

noun

1. the watershed of a continent, esp ( often caps. ) the principal watershed of North America, formed by the Rocky Mountains

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continental divide Scientific  

1. A region of high ground, from each side of which the river systems of a continent flow into different continental-scale drainage basins.

2. ◆ In North America, the Continental Divide is a series of mountain ridges stretching from Alaska to Mexico, marking the separation of drainage basins that empty into the Pacific Ocean or Bering Sea from those that empty into the Arctic or Atlantic Oceans or the Gulf of Mexico.

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continental divide Cultural  

1. An imaginary geographic line defined by the fact that water poured on one side of it would ultimately flow into the ocean on one side of a continent, while water poured on the other side of the line would flow into the ocean on the other side of the continent.

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In North America, the continental divide is located in the Rocky Mountains.

Etymology

Origin of continental divide

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Example Sentences

She has also set records in the Tour Divide, a gruelling race traversing the American continental divide along the Rocky Mountains.

From BBC • Sep. 11, 2024

So far, however, the prolific fish have mostly stopped short of the Great Lakes, blocked by the subtle ridge of a continental divide that circles the lakes' southern and western shores.

From Salon • Jun. 13, 2023

In late 2020, Coloradans voted by a single percentage point for the reintroduction of gray wolves in the state — but only west of the continental divide.

From Washington Post • Feb. 17, 2022

The nation’s third-largest city grew from a remarkable geographical quirk, a small, swampy dip in a continental divide that separates two vast watersheds: the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 10, 2021

By midmorning they were within Oakwald Forest, the wood that surrounded Endovier and served as a continental divide between the “civilized” countries of the East and the uncharted lands of the West.

From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas