water cycle

British  

noun

1. Also called: hydrologic cycle.  the circulation of the earth's water, in which water evaporates from the sea into the atmosphere, where it condenses and falls as rain or snow, returning to the sea by rivers or returning to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration

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water cycle Scientific  

1. See hydrologic cycle

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Example Sentences

These problems are compounded by climate change, which is upending the water cycle and bringing more severe droughts and floods.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 21, 2026

Rainfall moves slowly through the water cycle, needing to soak deep through the soil and way down into the groundwater stores.

From BBC • Sep. 9, 2025

“The rapid water cycle change that the planet has experienced over the last decade has unleashed a wave of rapid drying.”

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 3, 2025

I had a very clear sense that I wanted the water cycle to kind of circulate through it as it were, and a sense that we are part of that water cycle.

From Salon • May 28, 2025

To the thousands upon thousands of trained hydrologists, meteorologists and agronomists of the federal agencies of agriculture, interior and commerce fell the task of manipulating and guiding the delicate balance of the world's water cycle.

From The Thirst Quenchers by Raphael, Rick