shoreline
Americannoun
-
shorelines
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of shoreline
Explanation
The shoreline is the place where a large body of water, like an ocean, lake, or river, meets the land. There are a lot of fun beaches along the Atlantic shoreline. You can use the noun shoreline to talk about the strip that marks the boundary between land and water, whether it's at the edge of an ocean, sea, lake, or river. While the word "coast" refers specifically to the ocean, shoreline or shore can be used for any body of water. The word was first coined in the mid-1800's by geographers, and its root is the Germanic schor, "shore, coast, or headland."
Vocabulary lists containing shoreline
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:
In 2010, they reportedly spent $28 million to extensively renovate the estate, which boasts 310 feet of private shoreline and a private boathouse.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026
Large stretches of the island's shoreline appear affected and "additional oil slicks extend far out to sea, further polluting and damaging this protected marine ecosystem", Noelle said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
Found weak and disheveled along the shoreline, the raptor believed to be nest cam star Jackie is receiving care while experts investigate what caused its decline.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
They were there when the devastating Santa Barbara oil spill blackened beaches, turned the shoreline into a wildlife graveyard, and galvanized grassroots defense of the coast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
The distances were smaller, of course; shoreline families would move a fifteen-minute walk inland, to avoid direct exposure to winter storms and tides.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Perhaps, if the Navy had moved away from large aircraft carriers and more toward small ships that could attack with speed and stealth along shorelines.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
Targets: They are designed to protect shorelines and islands from approaching ships and landing craft.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Thomas Quarry I sits within the raised coastal formations of the Rabat-Casablanca littoral, an area internationally recognized for its remarkably complete record of Plio-Pleistocene shorelines, dunes, and cave systems.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 7, 2026
Around 1,000 lifeguards staged a tribute on Saturday, lining up arm-to-arm facing the ocean, on the shorelines of Bondi beach.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
A tugboat made its way down the river, causing the water to crash into the rocks along the shorelines.
From "The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street" by Karina Yan Glaser
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.
