salt marsh

American  

noun

1. a marshy tract that is wet with salt water or flooded by the sea.

---

salt marsh British  

noun

1. an area of marshy ground that is intermittently inundated with salt water or that retains pools or rivulets of salt or brackish water, together with its characteristic halophytic vegetation

---

salt marsh Scientific  

1. A marsh in which the water is saline, especially a coastal wetland that has halophyte vegetation and is regularly flooded at high tide. Coastal salt marshes help to preserve the shoreline by accommodating storm tides.

---

Other Word Forms

• salt-marsh
  adjective
• saltmarsh
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of salt marsh

before 1000; Middle English saltmerche, Old English sealtne mersc

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

salt marsh

Environmentalists say the wall will accelerate erosion elsewhere while starving the neighboring salt marsh of sediment, hurting wildlife.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

"There was a great pressure to restore the area. I think people worried it would stay a muddy mess but soon vegetation started to appear and it became established as a salt marsh," Hester added.

From BBC ● May 4, 2026

Birds flock here for the blend of the estuary, mud flats, open saltwater and salt marsh.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2024

"Our results show that blue carbon ecosystems are more effective in mitigating climate change than previously thought. It is now even more important to protect and restore mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems."

From Science Daily ● Feb. 1, 2024

How did they grow maize in a salt marsh, anyway?

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann