oxbow lake

American  

[ahks-boh layk] / ˈɑksˌboʊ ˈleɪk /

noun

oxbow lakes plural

1. Physical Geography. a bow-shaped lake formed when a relatively wide curve or meander in the course of a river is cut off as the river takes a more direct course.

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oxbow lake Scientific  

1. A crescent-shaped lake formed when a river changes its course and cuts through the strip of land in the middle of an oxbow, abandoning its previous course and isolating the water in the oxbow.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• oxbow lakes
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oxbow lake

This dissolved iron eventually reached a river system that included an oxbow lake, which is an abandoned river channel.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 23, 2026

The trail threads a narrow gap between the lake and the river, which makes sense, given that an oxbow lake is actually a remnant of a river bend.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2022

The former channel becomes isolated from streamflow and forms an oxbow lake seen on the right of the figure.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

The Rincon on the entrenched Colorado River at Lake Powell is an incised oxbow lake.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2017

The old channel is now silted up at both ends and becomes a crescentic lagoon, or oxbow lake, which fills gradually to an arc-shaped shallow depression.

From The Elements of Geology by Norton, William Harmon