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river basin

noun Physical Geography.
  1. the area of land drained by a river and its branches.
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Origin of river basin

First recorded in 1875–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for river basin

Historical Examples

  • The lower part of the river-basin was inhabited by the Angrivarii.

    Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 7

    Various

  • Daniel sees a ram standing eastward of the river-basin of the Ulai, having two horns, of which one is higher than the other.

  • Lifting up his eyes, Daniel sees a ram standing eastward of the river-basin.

  • With these replaced, and the supplies of petrol and oil replenished, we flew south during the afternoon to the river-basin of war.

river basin in Science

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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.