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:
This was a major task, as the sites on Late Kariba’s shoreline are deep inside Matusadona National Park.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
The Tuesday attack saw three aerial drones strike the deck and side of the Malta-flagged Chelsea 3, some 18 nautical miles east of the Bulgarian shoreline, Radev said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
The stretch of track along the San Clemente shoreline has long offered picturesque views of sandy beaches and lapping ocean waves for passengers traveling between Los Angeles and San Diego.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
The body of a baby girl found along a north Wales shoreline may have been in the water for up to a few weeks, according to initial indications.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
Still, conditions are treacherous, especially along the shoreline of coastal Connecticut....
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
One of the beefs homeowners have with PWCs—and so called “wake boats”—is that the waves they generate can slam moored boats into docks and erode shorelines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
In the San Francisco Bay Area, forecasters warned of up to 1.2 feet of inundation above ground level “in low-lying areas near shorelines and tidal waterways,” the weather service office in Monterey said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Navy had recently chosen Damen “to help it fast-track a new fleet” of a different type of vessel: up to 35 medium-sized ships to move troops and supplies to shorelines.
From Salon ● Sep. 16, 2026
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
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
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