moat

American  

[moht] / moʊt /

noun

• moats
  plural

1. a deep, wide trench, usually filled with water, surrounding the rampart of a fortified place, such as a town or a castle.

2. any trench, such as one used for confining animals in a zoo.

3. a competitive advantage a business has in its field.

   The company's moat was reduced when the patent on the devices they sold expired.

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moat British  

/ məʊt /

noun

1. a wide water-filled ditch surrounding a fortified place, such as a castle

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verb

1. (tr) to surround with or as if with a moat

   a moated grange

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• moats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of moat

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English mote, from Old French: “clod, mound,” of obscure origin

Explanation

Not many houses these days have a moat — it's a trench dug outside a castle and is usually full of water. A moat means "Keep out!" You're most likely to hear about moats if you read a fairy tale or a history of medieval times. This water-filled ditch is one of the lines of defense for a castle. In the old days, it was pretty effective. If you filled the moat with a deadly fish — like a piranha — that was an even better defense. A moat is pretty much the opposite of a welcome mat.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

moat moats

“Each of SPGI’s benchmark franchises is a high-margin, IP licensing business with a formidable competitive moat inside an oligopolistic market structure,” the Pershing Square letter observed.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

This seemingly blew a hole in the moat around IBM’s legacy business and Krishna’s hybrid strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

However, Majumdar told MarketWatch that investors are “still debating” whether or not AI will expand the company’s moat.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

FRANKFURT—For decades, thousands of niche, world-class manufacturers that form the backbone of the German economy relied on an unassailable moat: unmatched quality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 4, 2026

“Where we hope to hear the voice of Djel. But that’s the final step. First, we have to cross the ice moat undetected. If we are judged worthy, Djel shows us the path.”

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

“This de-rating has gone too far with regards to the AI concerns and we think Wolters’s competitive moats remain robust,” they add.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

Arya expects that Nvidia’s earnings report in August will show investors that the company still has “its moats in products, pricing and supply chain,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

“Contrary to the share price, we think Meta’s engagement and monetization moats are deeper than ever and don’t see that changing,” he said.

From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026

VanEck CEO Jan Van Eck argues the memory-chip stocks don’t have competitive moats, and notes their profit explosion is driven by temporary pricing power over sales volumes.

From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026

He believed that as we walked, the world of objects unfurled before us like the painted scene for a play, turrets, and moats, and topiary aisles slapping down into place just before we would arrive.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson

Related Words

• gully
• trench