lagoon

[ luh-goon ]

noun

1. an area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes. Compare laguna.
2. Also la·gune. any small, pondlike body of water, especially one connected with a larger body of water.
3. an artificial pool for storage and treatment of polluted or excessively hot sewage, industrial waste, etc.

lagoon

/ ləˈɡuːn /

noun

1. a body of water cut off from the open sea by coral reefs or sand bars
2. any small body of water, esp one adjoining a larger one

lagoon

/ lə-go̅o̅n′ /

1. 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.
2. A shallow pond or lake close to a larger lake or river but separated from it by a barrier such as a levee.

Other Words From

• la·goonal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of lagoon¹

1605–15; earlier laguna (singular), lagune (plural) < Italian < Latin lacūna (singular), lacūnae (plural) “ditch, pool,” akin to lacus basin, lake ¹; lacuna

Word History and Origins

Origin of lagoon¹

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

Example Sentences

It is also soon to be the Thermal of the Thermal Beach Club, which will feature an artificial 20-acre surf lagoon with custom waves, created by PerfectSwell wave technology.

From ProPublica

Viviane Menezes, a marine scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, has described the Red Sea as being like a “big lagoon” with “everything connected.”

From Time

Before the pandemic, around 700 massive ships entered the lagoon each year.

From The Daily Beast

Turneffe Flats sits on Turneffe Atoll, a 300-square-mile series of hundreds of palm-fringed islands, endless mangroves, clear lagoons, and unbroken reefs — the very picture of pristine Caribbean beauty.

From Washington Post

The smallest fossil could fit on a pinky nail, and has no bones or teeth—it’s just soft tissue imprinted in the bottom of a muddy lagoon.

From Popular-Science

No one knows exactly why 29-year-old Iranian costume design student Mahtab Savoji turned up dead in the Venice lagoon last week.

From The Daily Beast

I wind up driving into a lagoon of some kind and presumably drowning.

From The Daily Beast

A one-legged torso wearing only a stiletto-heeled boot was found floating in a Venice lagoon.

From The Daily Beast

She was the Brooke Shields we fell in love with in Blue Lagoon—but of age.

From The Daily Beast

He called out something about his fish, and soon after passed out of sight into the lagoon.

From Project Gutenberg

"It's across the lagoon," Dr. Silence cried, but this time in full tones that paid no tribute to caution.

From Project Gutenberg

And an answering cry sounded across the lagoon—thin, wailing, piteous.

From Project Gutenberg

She looked long away from me across the lagoon and at last sighed, like one who has drunk deeply, and turned to me.

From Project Gutenberg

Making our way in the direction pointed out, we saw before us a creek falling into the lagoon.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bayou
• pond
• pool