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drainage basin

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noun
the area drained by a river and all its tributaries.
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Also called catchment area, drainage area .

Origin of drainage basin

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85

Words nearby drainage basin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use drainage basin in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for drainage basin

drainage basin

drainage area


noun
another name for catchment area
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for drainage basin

drainage basin
[ drānĭj ]

An area drained by a river system. A drainage basin includes all areas that gather precipitation water and direct it to a particular stream, stream system, lake, or other body of standing water.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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