reservoir
Americannoun
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reservoirs
plural
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a natural or artificial place where water is collected and stored for use, especially water for supplying a community, irrigating land, furnishing power, etc.
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a receptacle or chamber for holding a liquid or fluid.
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Geology. pool16
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Biology. a cavity or part that holds some fluid or secretion.
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a place where anything is collected or accumulated in great amount.
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a large or extra supply or stock; reserve.
a reservoir of knowledge.
noun
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a natural or artificial lake or large tank used for collecting and storing water, esp for community water supplies or irrigation
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a receptacle for storing gas, esp one attached to a stove
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biology a vacuole or cavity in an organism, containing a secretion or some other fluid
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anatomy another name for cisterna
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a place where a great stock of anything is accumulated
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a large supply of something; reserve
a reservoir of talent
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A natural or artificial pond or lake used for the storage of water.
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An underground mass of rock or sediment that is porous and permeable enough to allow oil or natural gas to accumulate in it.
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An organism that is the host for a parasitic pathogen or that directly or indirectly transmits a pathogen to which it is immune.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of reservoir
1680–90; < French réservoir, equivalent to réserv ( er ) to reserve + -oir -ory 2
Explanation
The word reservoir refers to a place where large amounts of water get stored. It can also be used to describe great amounts of other things, such as when you refer to a trivia expert as a reservoir of useless knowledge. The word reservoir comes from the French réservoir, which further derives from the Old French reserver, meaning "to reserve." Knowing this, it makes sense that the meaning evolved into a place, either man-made or natural, where water is stored or "reserved," usually for distribution for drinking, irrigating, and generating power. Remembering the related word reserve might also help in both the spelling and pronunciation of the word, as reserve is spelled (and pronounced) with "er," the same as "reservoir."
Vocabulary lists containing reservoir
Persepolis
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Africa - Introductory
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The Water Cycle - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"After having reservoir applications repeatedly blocked, we have finally been given approval to build 10, which will take years to complete," they said.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
Months of dry weather and prolonged heat have revealed a bridge dating back to the Victorian times that had been submerged during the creation of a reservoir.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Juliet was a natural-gas discovery, and flow testing has shown a reservoir of excellent quality.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
“And it looks like it’s going to work well elsewhere. But we’ve got to look very carefully because every reservoir is different.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026
It would be more convenient to have the reservoir in the rover, but it has to be near the regulator's return air feed.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
BBC meteorologist David Braine said there was some rain in the forecast for Lundy, but it would take weeks to top up the groundwater and reservoirs the island relied on.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The National Drought Group said the recent rain has not been enough to replenish supplies, with drought only being over when rivers, groundwater and reservoirs return to normal levels.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Authorities are also forced to reduce the number of ships that cross the canal because it needs to keep enough rainwater in its reservoirs and lakes to provide freshwater to fill the locks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Those branches may have helped establish new reservoirs of Yersinia pestis in wild rodent populations.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
“Haven’t you heard? The reservoirs are all dry. That’s what you get for looking at an old paper map.”
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
