river basin

noun

Physical Geography.

1. the area of land drained by a river and its branches.

river basin

1. The land area that is drained by a river and its tributaries. The Mississippi River basin, for example, is a vast area that covers much of the central United States from the central ranges of the Appalachian Mountains in the east to the eastern ranges of the Rocky Mountains in the west, funneling toward its delta in southern Louisiana and emptying into the Gulf of Mexico.

Word History and Origins

Origin of river basin¹

First recorded in 1875–80

Example Sentences

"It's also possible that our major river basins will overflow."

Read more on Barron's

That includes the upper Indus river basin, which serves parts of China, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Read more on BBC

A 2022 study by the University of Nottingham lists pollution - from oil production and other industrial and domestic sources - as one factor among several, including climate change, that are degrading the Magdalena river basin.

Read more on BBC

The government, it said, should explore alternative irrigation methods in the river basin.

Read more on BBC

They say "Yana" - who has been named after the river basin where she was discovered - is the world's best-preserved mammoth carcass.

Read more on BBC