lagoon

[luh-goon]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR lagoon ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes.Compare laguna.

Also lagune. any small, pondlike body of water, especially one connected with a larger body of water.

an artificial pool for storage and treatment of polluted or excessively hot sewage, industrial waste, etc.

Origin of lagoon

1605–15; earlier laguna (singular), lagune (plural) < Italian < Latin lacūna (singular), lacūnae (plural) ditch, pool, akin to lacus basin, lake¹; see lacuna

Related formsla·goon·al, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for lagoon

pond, pool, bayou, marsh, gulf, shoal

Examples from the Web for lagoon

Contemporary Examples of lagoon

No one knows exactly why 29-year-old Iranian costume design student Mahtab Savoji turned up dead in the Venice lagoon last week.
Iranian Found In Venice Lagoon, Alleged Victim Of Botched Sex Game
Barbie Latza Nadeau
February 5, 2014
I wind up driving into a lagoon of some kind and presumably drowning.
Grand Theft Auto V Review: The Best Game Ever?!
Winston Ross
September 17, 2013
A one-legged torso wearing only a stiletto-heeled boot was found floating in a Venice lagoon.
Headless Torso Found in Venice Lagoon
Barbie Latza Nadeau
June 2, 2013

Historical Examples of lagoon

That lagoon presented an excellent place for a cattle-station.
Journal of an Expedition into the Interior of Tropical Australia
Thomas Mitchell
Then I knew why Opata smelled of mischief when he had caught snakes in the lagoon.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
The shallow water of the lagoon ran into gold-tipped ripples.
The Trail Book
Mary Austin
In the center of this lagoon stands commonly a rocky island.
The Meaning of Evolution
Samuel Christian Schmucker
And they wait for us outside the bottle-neck of this lagoon.
Captain Blood
Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for lagoon

lagoon

noun

a body of water cut off from the open sea by coral reefs or sand bars

any small body of water, esp one adjoining a larger one

Also (rare): lagune

Word Origin for lagoon

C17: from Italian laguna, from Latin lacūna pool; see lacuna

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

Word Origin and History for lagoon

1670s, lagune, earlier laguna (1610s), from French lagune or directly from Italian laguna "pond, lake," from Latin lacuna "pond, hole," from lacus "pond" (see lake (n.1)). Originally in reference to the region of Venice; applied 1769 (by Capt. Cook) to the lake-like stretch of water enclosed in a South Seas atoll. Also cf. -oon.

lagoon in Science

lagoon

[lə-gōōn′]

A shallow body of salt water close to the sea but separated from it by a narrow strip of land, such as a barrier island, or by a coral reef.

A shallow pond or lake close to a larger lake or river but separated from it by a barrier such as a levee.