wadi

or wa·dy

[wah-dee]

See more synonyms for wadi on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural wa·dis. (in Arabia, Syria, northern Africa, etc.)

the channel of a watercourse that is dry except during periods of rainfall.
such a stream or watercourse itself.
a valley.

Origin of wadi

First recorded in 1830–40, wadi is from the Arabic word wādī

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for wadi

gully, creek, stream, sluice, canal, estuary, aqueduct, brook, channel, flume, conduit, gutter, culvert, inlet, chute, drain, gullet, trench, ravine, river

Examples from the Web for wadi

Contemporary Examples of wadi

Even with a GPS, it was easy to get disoriented in a wadi, or to mistake one trail for another.
The Fourth War: My Lunch with a Jihadi
Elliot Ackerman
January 21, 2014
Hadeel, a vivacious 27-year-old from the Wadi Ara region, teaches Arabic in a Jewish Israeli elementary school.
What American Jews Can Learn From ‘Dove’s Cry’
Sigal Samuel
November 18, 2013
What he may not know is that from this museum, the site of the Deir Yassin massacre is visible just across the wadi.
Mr. President, Don’t Forget The Nakba
Yousef Munayyer
March 19, 2013
He knows the topography and geography of Israel/Palestine, literally street by street and wadi by wadi.
How to Revive The Peace Process: A Modest Proposal
Letty Cottin Pogrebin
May 9, 2012

Historical Examples of wadi

I carry no note-book with me when I go down the wadi or out into the fields.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
Everything, except the river in the wadi below, is yet asleep.
The Book of Khalid
Ameen Rihani
Near Zacariah the Wadi es Sunt contains but few of those trees.
Byeways in Palestine
James Finn
He was buying up land for himself in the Wadi Al Ain and elsewhere.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent
So we went on, but for fully two miles, till the Wadi Adim crossed our path.
Southern Arabia
Theodore Bent

British Dictionary definitions for wadi

wadi

wady

noun plural -dies

a watercourse in N Africa and Arabia, dry except in the rainy season

Word Origin for wadi

C19: from Arabic

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

Word Origin and History for wadi

"watercourse," 1839, from Arabic wadi "seasonal watercourse," prop. participle of wada "it flowed."

wadi in Science

wadi

[wä′dē]

A gully or streambed in northern Africa and southwest Asia that remains dry except during the rainy season.