sea wall

American

noun

a strong wall or embankment to prevent the encroachments of the sea, serve as a breakwater, etc.

sea wall British

noun

a wall or embankment built to prevent encroachment or erosion by the sea or to serve as a breakwater

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

sea-walled

adjective

Etymology

Origin of sea wall

before 1000; Middle English; Old English: cliff over the sea

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:

sea wall

On another nearby property overlooking an ancient sea wall, excavations revealed two stone quarries "one Roman and the other Phoenician", she said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 29, 2026

Coastal development is a lightning rod in the Ocean State, yet no issue has animated locals like this sea wall.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

HM Coastguard said the children were helped on Friday evening in Fleetwood after they got into difficulty in rough seas "a significant distance out from the sea wall".

From BBC ● Jun. 27, 2026

GWR said the sea wall at Dawlish would be inspected once the storm had passed.

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2026

Only the occasional bleat of the gull gave me a picture of that bird, for I had heard and seen them many times around the sea wall in Willemstad.

From "The Cay" by Theodore Taylor

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023