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• beach
  beach

  noun

  an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore.
• Beach
  Beach

  noun

  Alfred Ely, 1826–96, U.S. editor, publisher, and inventor.

beach

¹ American  

[beech] / bitʃ /

noun

• beaches
  plural

1. an expanse of sand or pebbles along a shore.

2. the part of the shore of an ocean, sea, large river, lake, etc., washed by the tide or waves.

   Synonyms:

   littoral, strand, seashore, coast

3. the area adjacent to a seashore.

   We're vacationing at the beach.

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verb (used with object)

• beaches,
  present (3rd person singular)
• beached,
  past participle,  past
• beaching
  present participle

1. Nautical. to haul or run onto a beach.

   We beached the ship to save it.

2. to make inoperative or unemployed.

   Synonyms:

   ground

Beach ² American  

[beech] / bitʃ /

noun

1. Alfred Ely, 1826–96, U.S. editor, publisher, and inventor.

2. Amy Marcey Cheney 1867–1944, U.S. composer and pianist.

3. Moses Yale, 1800–68, U.S. newspaper publisher.

4. Rex Ellingwood 1877–1949, U.S. novelist and short-story writer.

5. Sylvia Woodbridge, 1887–1962, U.S. bookseller and publisher in France.

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beach British  

/ biːtʃ /

noun

1. an extensive area of sand or shingle sloping down to a sea or lake, esp the area between the high- and low-water marks on a seacoast

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verb

1. to run or haul (a boat) onto a beach

beach Scientific  

/ bēch /

1. The area of accumulated sand, stone, or gravel deposited along a shore by the action of waves and tides. Beaches usually slope gently toward the body of water they border and have a concave shape. They extend landward from the low water line to the point where there is a distinct change in material (as in a line of vegetation) or in land features (as in a cliff).

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Synonym Usage

See shore ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• beachless
  adjective
• unbeached
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beaches
  plural

Participles

• beaching
  present
• beached
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• beach
  simple
• beaches
  simple
• have beached
  perfect
• has beached
  perfect
• am beaching
  progressive
• are beaching
  progressive
• is beaching
  progressive
• have been beaching
  perfect progressive
• has been beaching
  perfect progressive

Past

• beached
  simple
• had beached
  perfect
• was beaching
  progressive
• were beaching
  progressive
• had been beaching
  perfect progressive

Future

• will beach
  simple
• will have beached
  perfect
• will be beaching
  progressive
• will have been beaching
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of beach

First recorded in 1525–35; of obscure origin

Explanation

You know that wide, flat patch of sand that leads down to the sea, or maybe even the lake? That's a beach, one of the most beautiful places in the world. During a long, stormy winter, a beach can erode and move. The word beach can also be used more generally to describe a town or vacation spot along the ocean or sea. In New Jersey, they call it the shore. But in lots of other places, people say they're going to the beach when they mean they are taking a trip to the seaside for vacation. Of course, if you beach your boat, you might not be overjoyed: that means you've run it aground, usually on a choice pile of sand.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beach Beach beaches beached beaching

But when Henry Clayton’s Armani-clad corpse washes up on the beach, one person is certain he didn’t take his own life.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026

“We still had quite a bit of beach out there then, so it didn’t reach the boardwalk,” said Hood, 70.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Extreme heat has driven more people to the beach, and high surf fueled by Pacific tropical storms has added to the dangers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

There were other stops before we got to Sazan: a beach on the Karaburun Peninsula, a look at a beloved local cave.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

Squarely behind them both was a big shingled building that looked like a fancy beach club in the summer.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

During an El Niño cycle in 1983, waves collapsed the landmark Seal Beach Pier, which has since been rebuilt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Long Beach Fire Department officials concerned about structural damage evacuated about 20 homes on the Long Beach Peninsula.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Fine, who lives in Manhattan Beach, declined to be interviewed last week before the Cubs’ game against the public school he lives five minutes from, Mira Costa.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

Growth investor ClearSky in West Palm Beach, Fla., has backed the business as a minority investor since 2021, the year the company was formed, according to the firm’s website.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Sergio argues with the taxi driver that we’ll all fit in the car just fine and that we’re going to the Maravilla Beach Resort.

From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya

So enjoying Albania's beaches and scenery was very much part of the attraction of getting his teeth fixed here.

From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026

Heat advisories include the Los Angeles County beaches and coastal valleys and the Santa Monica Mountains.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Tired of the overcrowded beaches of Italy, Greece, and Spain, savvy developers are looking for new stretches of the coastline and have landed on Albania.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

In recent weeks, dozens of sea lions suffering from domoic acid poisoning have turned up on beaches from Monterey County to Sonoma County.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Plus, I read that the beaches in Maryland don’t even have very big waves.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

But I can choose to recognize that some performers, artistic works and brands are simply too big to fail or bury, so they become some version of a beached grey whale’s corpse.

From Salon ● May 14, 2026

At the toe of the bluff, the geotubes stretched out like a beached Leviathan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026

Vonk and his team ensure the country is ready for extreme scenarios: a drought meaning all inland shipping is beached or a devastating storm surge.

From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025

But not before Maxine sings a song to a beached whale, calling it back into the sea.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2024

A few fish sat in pools, others lay beached on the sand, rotting with streamers of seaweed.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi

A humpback whale rescued after beaching itself in Germany has been found dead near a Danish island.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

A humpback whale that underwent a rescue operation in Germany two weeks ago after beaching itself there has been found dead near a Danish island, officials said Saturday.

From Barron's ● May 16, 2026

But besides beating seasonal crowds, winter beaching has another leg up on summer: storm watching.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 20, 2024

A spokesperson from the National Weather Service in Monterey attributed high tides for beaching the bomb.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2024

Carefully, we inched the Miss Amanda around the sandbar without beaching her until we were directly above the deep water.

From "Red Kayak" by Priscilla Cummings

Related Words

• coast
• shore
• waterfront