English Explanatory Dictionary

river

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A large and often winding stream which drains a land mass, carrying water down from higher areas to a lower point, oftentimes ending in another body of water, such as an ocean or in an inland sea.
  2. Any large flow of a liquid in a single body.
  3. The last card dealt in a hand.
  4. A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.
verb
  1. To improve one’s hand to beat another player on the final card in a poker game.
noun
  1. One who rives or splits.
name
  1. A unisex given name.
  2. A surname.
  3. A place name:
  4. A suburban village and civil parish in Dover district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR2943).
  5. A hamlet in Tillington parish, Chichester district, West Sussex, England (OS grid ref SU9322).
  6. A township in Red Lake County, Minnesota, United States.

Pronunciation

/ˈɹɪvəː/ [ˈɹʷɪvəː] En-uk-river.ogg /ˈɾɪvəː/ [ˈɾɪvəː] /ˈɹɘvɘː/ [ˈɹʷɘvɘː] /ˈɹɪvɚ/ [ˈɹʷɪvɚ] ~ [ˈɹʷɪvɹ̩] en-us-river.ogg /ˈɾɪvəɾ/ [ˈɾɪvəɾ] /ˈɹɪvəɹ/ [ˈɹɪvəɹ] /ˈɹaɪvə/ /ˈɹaɪvɚ/

Word forms

river rivers rivering rivered

Etymology

From Middle English ryver, from Anglo-Norman rivere, from Early Medieval Latin rīpāria (“littoral, riverbank”), from Latin rīpārius (“of a riverbank”), from Latin rīpa (“river bank”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- (“to scratch, tear, cut”). Unrelated to Latin rīvus (“stream”) (whence rival, derive). Doublet of riviera and rivière. Displaced native Old English ēa.

Synonyms

large river small brooklet burnlet ree rill rith rithe rivulet runlet streamlet unsorted arroyo bayou beck bogan bogue bourn branch anabranch brook burn coulee creek crick distributary drain draw ea eau fork fresh freshet gill kill lake [⇒ thesaurus] "stream of running water" letch lick nahal nailbourne outlet prong pup rine rhine rindle rito run runnel sike sitch stream tributary wadi wash winterbourne

Related words

fluvial tributary water freshwater alluvium sediment riverbend riverbank riverbed riverfront valley canyon glen gorge strath drainage basin confluence channel floodplain riverplain billabong oxbow lake fish amphibian muskrat river dolphin Amazon River dolphin baiji pink river dolphin tucuxi crest flood drought bridge weir dam dock port flatboat pulwar raft riverboat river runner rum-tum showboat struse thalamegos fisher river rat riverkeeper riverman swimmer water bailiff geography hydrology riparian riverine Appendix:Roget MICRA thesaurus/Class III § 348. River :Category:en:Rivers Rivers

Derived words

Abba River Adelaide River Agidel River Alice River Amazon river dolphin American River Amur River Angelo River Apple River Archer River Arm River Arthur River atmospheric river Augusta-Margaret River Battle River Bear River Beaufort River Belmore River Bemm River Black River Blue River braided river Brodribb River Broken River Broughton River Valley Buffalo River Burrum River Campbell River Cann River Capel River Carbunup River Carlisle River Carlton River Cells River Chang River Chicamacomico River Chinese river dolphin Colorado River Numic Columbia River Copper River Cotter River Crawford River Crimea river Crooked River cross-river cross the river cry someone a river Crystal River Curdies River Cygnet River Daly River Darwin River Darwin River Dam Deep River Delaware River Delegate River De Mole River denial is a river in Egypt denial is not a river in Egypt Detroit River
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