embayment

American  

[em-bey-muhnt] / ɛmˈbeɪ mənt /

noun

1. a coastal recess that forms a bay.

2. Physical Geography. the process by which a bay is formed.

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embayment British  

/ ɪmˈbeɪmənt /

noun

1. a shape resembling a bay

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Etymology

Origin of embayment

First recorded in 1805–15; embay + -ment

Example Sentences

"It is possible that the changes we see today on Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers -- and potentially across the entire Amundsen Sea embayment -- were essentially set in motion in the 1940s."

From Science Daily • Feb. 26, 2024

We were more than halfway through the survey before the echo sounder detected any krill—a patch of the crustaceans suspended above the seafloor in the shallow waters of the embayment.

From Scientific American • Mar. 14, 2023

The Tonto wends into a huge, red-walled embayment, called the Inferno, and our view — while stirring — holds distressingly steady.

From Washington Post • Apr. 8, 2021

In the East Siberian Sea, they steered the Pangaea into an embayment in the ice cap that Ousland, who closely studies satellite images of the Arctic, had observed growing for years.

From National Geographic • Dec. 24, 2020

In a little angular embayment at the cliff’s base, almost directly under the summer-house was the body discovered.

From Gwen Wynn A Romance of the Wye by Reid, Mayne