dam
noun
a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river.
dam
1 American
[dam]
/ dæm /
noun
-
a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river.
-
a body of water confined by a dam.
-
any barrier resembling a dam.
dam
2
American
[dam]
/ dæm /
noun
dam
3
American
abbreviation
Dam
4
American
[dam, dahm]
/ dæm, dɑm /
noun
dam
1
British
/ dæm /
noun
-
a barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc
-
a reservoir of water created by such a barrier
-
something that resembles or functions as a dam
verb
Dam
2
British
/ dam /
noun
dam
3
British
/ dæm /
noun
dam
4
British
/ dæm /
interjection
dam
5
British
symbol
dam
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
damsimple
-
damssimple
-
have dammedperfect
-
has dammedperfect
-
am dammingprogressive
-
are dammingprogressive
-
is dammingprogressive
-
have been dammingperfect progressive
-
has been dammingperfect progressive
Past
-
dammedsimple
-
had dammedperfect
-
was dammingprogressive
-
were dammingprogressive
-
had been dammingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dam1
1275–1325; Middle English < Middle Dutch, Middle Low German, dam; akin to Old English for-demman to stop up, block
Origin of dam2
1250–1300; Middle English; variant of dame
Explanation
A barrier built to block the flow of water is called a dam. If you walk along a stream, you can see where beavers have built a dam out of mud and logs. As a verb, dam means to obstruct or blockade as with a dam. If the kids you're babysitting dam up the bathtub drain when you're not paying attention, the water might overflow and cause a waterfall into the living room downstairs. But water isn't the only thing that can be dammed. You shouldn't dam up your emotions — go ahead and scream if you need to.
Vocabulary lists containing dam
"A Modest Proposal," Vocabulary from the satire
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East Asia - Middle School
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East Asia - Introductory
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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:
“Last Thursday, the dam broke,” said Chris Galipeau, head market strategist at the Franklin Templeton Institute.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 9, 2026
The city was heavily damaged by the 2023 destruction of the Kakhovka dam, which unleashed major flooding along the Dnipro River.
From Barron's ● Oct. 27, 2026
One morning last month, Paxon, now a 79-year-old county commissioner, pointed to where the diminished reservoir lapped at the base of the 301-foot dam.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2026
In 2024, crews finished demolishing four dams on the Klamath River, completing the largest dam removal effort in U.S. history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Jake Blount leaned across the table and the words came out as though a dam inside him had broken.
From "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter" by Carson McCullers
As I have written before, Hoover Dam made today’s West, but also strapped it into the straitjacket of an implacable water shortage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
Oleshky was flooded after the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in June 2023.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026
Satellite images captured the dramatic change in Lake Powell near Glen Canyon Dam.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Now, on March 12, 1928, a supervisor at the St. Francis Dam was calling to say there might be a problem.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026
They passed through Beaver Dam, a small town.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, but production drops off in the dry season and critics lament the ecological impacts.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2026
As they fall further, Hoover and Glen Canyon dams could lose their capacity to provide water and power downstream and even become vulnerable to physical damage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2026
In 2024, crews finished demolishing four dams on the Klamath River, completing the largest dam removal effort in U.S. history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
The Himalayas have already seen devastating examples of what can happen when glacial lakes burst their natural dams.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Nathan went to break the dams and I with him and with me our children, sunken-eyed, noisy as they had not been for many days at the thought of the feast, carrying nets and baskets.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
"The sheer wave of debris suggests there could have been a landslide first; the water built up, dammed the river, and then it burst in one huge great flood," he told the BBC.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
These lakes are prone to failing because they are precariously dammed by walls made of frozen earth, rocks and ice created by the movement of a glacier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 1, 2026
A creek had been dammed, creating ponds that slowed the flow of water so the surrounding earth had more time to sop it up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
The process dirtied lakes, cut down forests and dammed up rivers.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 8, 2024
The Portuguese dammed up the river and flooded the whole valley.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
That mass of rock and ice plunged about 800 metres onto a debris-covered glacier, before surging downhill, briefly damming the Lhende River.
From Barron's ● Sep. 4, 2026
Beaver officer Lauren Jasper said the sites were chosen because they offered strong habitat at the headwaters, good damming potential and an existing local flood risk.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Andrew Law, a sociologist at Newcastle University in the U.K., has used lidar mapping to digitally preserve structures along China’s Yangtze River that were threatened or wiped out by extensive damming.
From Slate ● Jul. 25, 2025
Habitat destruction, damming, and pollution have decimated local populations, such that many species are in dire need of help.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024
But the Dreamers have improved themselves, and the damming of seas for voltage, the extraction of coal, the transmuting of oil into food, have enabled an expansion in plunder with no known precedent.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
