water tower

American  

noun

• water towers
  plural

1. a vertical pipe or tower into which water is pumped to a height sufficient to maintain a desired pressure for firefighting, distribution to customers, etc.

2. a fire-extinguishing apparatus for throwing a stream of water on the upper parts of a tall burning building.

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water tower British  

noun

1. a reservoir or storage tank mounted on a tower-like structure at the summit of an area of high ground in a place where the water pressure would otherwise be inadequate for distribution at a uniform pressure

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• water towers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of water tower

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

water tower

The launch complex’s water tower is “also good,” according to Limp, while its big support tower is damaged but repairable.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026

The video closed with “Top Gun” actor Tom Cruise perched atop the Paramount water tower.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

Warner distributed photos of Zaslav walking the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank with Sarandos and Peters, smiling in front of the studio’s famed water tower.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 28, 2026

The ambitious gothic Netflix film featured an Arctic explorer ship frozen on the ice, and Frankenstein's horror lab on top of a Victorian water tower.

From BBC ● Feb. 22, 2026

This prediction was tested in 1962, using a pair of very accurate clocks mounted at the top and bottom of a water tower.

From "A Brief History of Time: And Other Essays" by Stephen Hawking