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.
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
Fishermen pass it before dawn, carrying their nets towards the shoreline.
From BBC • May 2, 2026
Nine countries, at any time, could use their Persian and Oman Gulf shoreline to frighten risk-averse captains and insurers from using the strait.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
Seizing Kharg Island and the islands near the mainland would require an amphibious landing on a contested shoreline, among “the hardest operations” a military can attempt, and one that Iran is almost certainly prepared for.
From Salon • Apr. 3, 2026
Much of the island is submerged during the rainy season, and even in the dry summer pieces of the mazy shoreline are constantly calving off like icebergs and falling into the water.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
