Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

breakwater

UK/ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,851 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: breakwaters

A breakwater is a barrier built to break the force of the waves. Behind the breakwater, walk the breakwater, build a breakwater.

It makes a harbour possible where the coast offers no shelter, and it works by making waves break early and spend their energy on rock. The water behind a breakwater is calm enough to moor in.

Unknown · Public domain

Definitions of breakwater

  1. 1nounbreakwaterA barrier built to break the force of the waves.C1

    “The fishing boats sheltered behind the breakwater during the storm.”

breakwater is a barrier.

Where it comes from

Break plus water, with the same compound in Dutch.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *wed-

  2. English, today

    breakwater

From break + water. Compare Dutch breekwater (“breakwater”). Compare firebreak.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

breakwater in the wild

  • Part of a coastal management system, breakwaters are installed parallel to the shore to minimize erosion.

    Breakwater (structure)

  • The Frankfort Light is a lighthouse located on the north breakwater in the harbor in Frankfort, Michigan.

    Frankfort Light

  • The Buffalo North Breakwater East end Light was a lighthouse originally located on the North breakwater East End of Buffalo harbor, New York.

    Buffalo North Breakwater East End Light

  • The site is accessible by walking the breakwater.

    Muskegon Breakwater Light

  • On the opposite side of the next stretch of the breakwater is the Portland Breakwater Lighthouse.

    Portland Breakwater Fort

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.