shoreline
Americannoun
noun
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.
"Fresh snow on the mountains, autumn colours along the shoreline and even some amazing wildlife," Rosmarin, his voice brimming with excitement, told followers in a video posted several weeks ago.
From BBC • May 5, 2026
Quakes of that magnitude can even pose a risk of tsunami-like waves on the lake itself, with possible heights of more than 30 feet — capable of inundating many areas near the shoreline.
From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026
After the last Ice Age, rising seas and coastal erosion carved and exposed the towering structures along the shoreline.
From Science Daily • Apr. 30, 2026
Robert Greenhill, who owns a compound on nearly a mile of shoreline north of Sconset, is appealing that approval.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026
The men drank from quart bottles of Mountain Dew as they paused from their work to regard my father, who stood at the water's edge, staring at the shoreline with a stick in his hand.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
