inlet
Americannoun
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inlets
plural
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an indentation of a shoreline, usually long and narrow; small bay or arm.
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a narrow passage between islands.
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a place of admission; entrance.
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something put in or inserted.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a narrow inland opening of the coastline
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an entrance or opening
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the act of letting someone or something in
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something let in or inserted
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a passage, valve, or part through which a substance, esp a fluid, enters a device or machine
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( as modifier )
an inlet valve
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verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of inlet
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at in, let 1
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:
New Smyrna Beach is a surf break near a fish-rich inlet that attracts sharks, leading to bites, said Naylor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Six days after Noah's disappearance, his body was found in an underground drainage system more than six hundred metres downstream from the culvert inlet which is located behind homes at Northwood Road.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Questions have been raised since the boy's death about safety measures at the culvert inlet with a particular focus on whether a hatch alongside steel bars was locked.
From BBC ● May 8, 2026
Scotland's First Minister John Swinney however expressed dismay that he had only heard about the tanker being in the Scottish inlet of Moray Firth via media reports.
From Barron's ● Jan. 14, 2026
She recognized every creek and cove and inlet, every neck of land, every hiding place, every curve in the roads, every potential source of danger, every potential source of safety.
From "Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad" by Ann Petry
Another entry point is the 400-mile Guadalquivir River, a labyrinthine waterway of channels and inlets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
The whales feast all summer long, and only then embark on a 6,000-mile journey south to Mexico, where females calve and nurse their young in the warm and protected inlets along the Baja Peninsula.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2024
“Fewer than two dozen inlets have been identified” with this damage, said Kowal.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 1, 2024
The car was packed with innovations, including its vertical sidepod air inlets and the big, broad tunnels running back from the cockpit sides.
From BBC ● Feb. 24, 2024
The young fish hatch and are carried through the inlets by the tides.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
She was about to reach and, as Ab supposed, pass one of the inletting paths entering almost at right angles from the left.
From The Story of Ab A Tale of the Time of the Cave Man by Stanley Waterloo
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.
