levee

¹ American  

[lev-ee] / ˈlɛv i /

noun

1. an embankment designed to prevent the flooding of a river.

2. Geology. natural levee.

3. Agriculture. one of the small continuous ridges surrounding fields that are to be irrigated.

4. History/Historical. a landing place for ships; quay.

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verb (used with object)

leveed, leveeing

1. to furnish with a levee.

   to levee a treacherous stream.

levee ² American  

[lev-ee, le-vee] / ˈlɛv i, lɛˈvi /

noun

1. (in Great Britain) a public court assembly, held in the early afternoon, at which men only are received.

2. a reception, usually in someone's honor.

   a presidential levee at the White House.

3. History/Historical. a reception of visitors held on rising from bed, as formerly by a royal or other personage.

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levee ¹ British  

/ ˈlɛvɪ, ˈlɛveɪ /

noun

1. a formal reception held by a sovereign just after rising from bed

2. (in Britain) a public court reception for men, held in the early afternoon

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levee ² British  

/ ˈlɛvɪ /

noun

1. an embankment alongside a river, produced naturally by sedimentation or constructed by man to prevent flooding

2. an embankment that surrounds a field that is to be irrigated

3. a landing place on a river; quay

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levee Scientific  

/ lĕv′ē /

1. A long ridge of sand, silt, and clay built up by a river along its banks, especially during floods.

2. An artificial embankment along a rivercourse or an arm of the sea, built to protect adjoining land from inundation.

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Etymology

Origin of levee¹

An Americanism dating back to 1710–20; from French levée past participle of lever “to raise”; see levee ² ( def. ), lever

Origin of levee²

First recorded in 1665–75; from French levé, variant spelling of lever “rising (from bed)” (noun use of infinitive); see levee ¹, lever

Explanation

A levee is an embankment, like a dam, constructed to prevent the overflow of a body of water. It can also mean a formal reception. How do these two words relate? Read on... In French, lever means "to lift" and se lever means "to rise," literally "lift yourself." When the king rose from his bed and received visitors, that was a levee. When you raise up dirt or other materials to build a dam or levee, that's also a levee. Now, official levees don't involve kings — but you might hear of “a governor’s levee at the state capital.” And levee can be used as a verb, meaning "to make an embankment, or shore up."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

levee leveed leveeing

He weaves the stories together with musicians from perennially imperiled New Orleans performing for his interviewees at a “welcome table” on a levee.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026

His biggest fear would be a breach of a levee protecting the Netherlands -- "the impact would be immense", but he is confident in Dutch preparations.

From Barron's ● Nov. 7, 2025

Along the West Bank of the Mississippi, directly across the way from downtown New Orleans, there’s a levee that rises up beside the riverbank.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025

Six years ago, before he was seen as a budding star at USC, Jahkeem Stewart stood at the base of that levee in Algiers on a muggy day, drenched in sweat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025

He drove over the levee and down the long slope of cobblestones to the river’s edge and the horse plunged wildly in.

From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright

From the mid-19th century, they dammed and leveed and regulated the river to move the water around the way we do now.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2022

The openings will be gated and channelized, and the channels will themselves be leveed.

From The New Yorker ● Mar. 25, 2019

For a leveed river, monitor stage is when the water is several feet below the tops of the banks, but high enough where local officials are required to begin monitoring the river around the clock.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2017

Now mostly agricultural — its leveed islands interlaced by rivers, sloughs, and short channels called cuts — the delta supplies water to the state’s driest regions.

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2013

River channels have been leveed, new canals or channels have been excavated, great areas have been drained entirely, with complete change of vegetation.

From Colonial Expeditions to the Interior of California Central Valley, 1800-1820 Anthropological Records 16(6):239-292, 1958 by Sherburne Friend Cook

Army Corps of Engineers also contributed by leveeing the Mississippi River to prevent flooding, which had the unintended effect of preventing wetlands from naturally regenerating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

The loss of sediment from leveeing the river and saltwater intrusion caused by coastal oil and gas development are two big culprits, Keim noted.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 3, 2022

We can see the impact man’s activities - from leveeing the river to cutting through wetlands - can have on our natural defenses and our natural resources.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 26, 2018

The extensive leveeing of the Lower Mississippi River made the 1927 floods worse, just as all levees today carry consequences for current and future floods.

From Scientific American ● May 20, 2011

The system of leveeing was too onerous and expensive to be undertaken by the people sparsedly populating the eastern bank throughout the hill-country.

From The Memories of Fifty Years Containing Brief Biographical Notices of Distinguished Americans, and Anecdotes of Remarkable Men; Interspersed with Scenes and Incidents Occurring during a Long Life of Observation Chiefly Spent in the Southwest by William Henry Sparks

Related Words

• dam