irrigation

American  

[ir-i-gey-shuhn] / ˌɪr ɪˈgeɪ ʃən /

noun

1. the artificial application of water to land to assist in the production of crops.

2. Medicine/Medical. the flushing or washing out of anything with water or other liquid.

3. the state of being irrigated.

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irrigation Cultural  

1. Artificial provision of water to sustain growing plants.

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Irrigation accounts for the greatest part of water usage in the western United States.

Other Word Forms

• irrigational
  adjective
• nonirrigation
  noun
• overirrigation
  noun
• preirrigation
  noun
• preirrigational
  adjective
• proirrigation
  adjective
• reirrigation
  noun

Etymology

Origin of irrigation

First recorded in 1605–15, irrigation is from the Latin word irrigātiōn- (stem of irrigātiō ). See irrigate, -ion

Explanation

Irrigation is the watering of land to make it ready for agriculture. If you want to start a strawberry farm in the desert, irrigation will be necessary. Irrigation comes from the Latin for "moist" or "wet," but it means the purposeful wetting of something. We wouldn’t really say that a storm provides irrigation (unless we were poetically trying to personify the storm). Irrigation systems are often complex combinations of canals, channels, and hoses. The word irrigation is also used in medicine to describe the process of washing out a wound before dressing it.

Example Sentences

"Farmers will have to make difficult choices, using fewer inputs, switching crops or reducing irrigation, all of which lower yields," he said.

From Barron's • May 15, 2026

The six-bedroom, 6.5-bathroom home was built in 2022 and sits on a private, acre-plus lot with full-yard irrigation and large trees.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 24, 2026

A short walk along an irrigation canal leads to a weathered observation deck rising two stories above a patchwork of saturated flats where saltgrass, iodine bush and cattail take root.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026

Without gas from the South Pars, there are few means to power the pumps and irrigation networks Iranian farmers rely on, said Shokri, the university researcher.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026

In Mesopotamia, North China, Mexico, and Madagascar, small-scale irrigation systems already existed before the rise of states.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond