shoal

¹ American  

[shohl] / ʃoʊl /

noun

1. a place where a sea, river, or other body of water is shallow.

   The clams and mussels gathered from these shoals are the best you’ll ever find.

   Synonyms:

   ford, shallow(s)

2. a sandbank or sandbar in the bed of a body of water, especially one that is exposed above the surface of the water at low tide.

   Synonyms:

   reef

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adjective

1. of little depth, as water; shallow.

   The first thing these newcomers do is buy a boat and promptly get stuck in the shoal waters, which they know nothing about.

verb (used without object)

1. to become shallow or more shallow.

   The river significantly shoals between the old stone bridge and the bend at Tuttle’s Crossing.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to become shallow.

   Shoaling the approach has effectively kept the larger vessels out of our small harbor.

2. Nautical. to sail so as to lessen the depth of (the water under a vessel).

shoal ² American  

[shohl] / ʃoʊl /

noun

1. any large number of persons or things.

2. a school of fish.

   a shoal of herring;

   a shoal of mackerel.

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verb (used without object)

1. to collect in a shoal; throng.

shoal ¹ British  

/ ʃəʊl /

noun

1. a large group of certain aquatic animals, esp fish

2. a large group of people or things

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verb

1. (intr) to collect together in such a group

shoal ² British  

/ ʃəʊl /

noun

1. a stretch of shallow water

2. a sandbank or rocky area in a stretch of water, esp one that is visible at low water

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verb

1. to make or become shallow

2. (intr) nautical to sail into shallower water

adjective

1. a less common word for shallow

2. nautical (of the draught of a vessel) drawing little water

shoal Scientific  

/ shōl /

1. A submerged mound or ridge of sediment in a body of shallow water.

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Other Word Forms

• shoaliness noun

Etymology

Origin of shoal¹

First recorded before 900; (for the adjective) Middle English shold(e), Old English sceald shallow; noun and verb derivative of the adjective

Origin of shoal¹

First recorded in 1570–80; earlier shole, probably from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German schōle, with sound-substitution of sh- for Low German skh-; school ²

Example Sentences

“It’s clear that he has navigated the fraught shoals of the bureaucratic politics of the administration effectively. He hasn’t ticked off anybody who matters, and that’s a lot by itself.”

From The Wall Street Journal

This was one of the main shipping routes between the eastern and western Mediterranean, and it was also an extremely dangerous body of water, filled with shoals, sandbars, and suddenly shifting currents.

From Literature

Zoom out, though, and it does an impressive job of steering investors away from dangerous shoals.

From The Wall Street Journal

And in August, a Chinese navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat near the same shoal.

From Barron's

And for decades, every attempt to create legal access has foundered on the rocky shoals of property rights and lumbering bureaucracy.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• reef