sandbank

American  

[sand-bangk] / ˈsændˌbæŋk /

Or sand bank

noun

1. a large mass of sand, as on a shoal or hillside.

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sandbank British  

/ ˈsændˌbæŋk /

noun

1. a submerged bank of sand in a sea or river, that may be exposed at low tide

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Etymology

Origin of sandbank

First recorded in 1580–90; sand + bank ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sandbank

In Bulgaria, a cruise ship got stuck on a sandbank on the Danube.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Last week, 186 passengers had to be brought ashore from a Viking cruise liner that hit a sandbank because of low water levels near the city of Vidin in Bulgaria.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

In Germany, the whale was first seen on the sandbank near the city of Luebeck, on Germany's Baltic Sea coast, before freeing itself but then becoming stuck again several times.

From Barron's ● May 16, 2026

The whale was first spotted stuck on a sandbank on 23 March, off the island of Poel on Germany's Baltic coast.

From BBC ● May 16, 2026

I walked through tall grasses up a sandbank to a stand of pawpaw trees with clusters of fruit and climbed up the thickest trunk.

From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo

Related Words

• reef