breakwater
/ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.65 in modern English
19
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A construction in or around a harbour designed to break the force of the sea and to provide shelter for vessels lying inside.
noun
A low bulkhead across the forecastle deck of a ship which diverts water breaking over the bows into the scuppers.
Example Sentences
- "[…]there is a channel, some three miles wide between the city and the mainland, and some mile and a half wide between it and the sandy breakwater called the Lido, which divides the lagoon from the Adriatic,"
- "But there's a pier or breakwater runs out into the sea just here, which we could defend longer than anything else, like Horatius and his bridge."
- "Using the countless tons of rock from the cliff-face, supplemented by much more from inland, they threw out a huge breakwater, 2,000 ft. long and 80 ft. high, roughly at right angles to the quay, so forming an almost completely sheltered corner. Fifty years later, this massive mole is still standing up to the worst that the Irish Sea can do."
- "They sailed around a breakwater that hadn't existed on Peregrine's last trip and tied in at the moorage."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈbɹeɪkˌwɔːtə/