river
/ˈɹɪvɚ/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.03 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
A visually undesirable effect of white space running down a page, caused by spaces between words on consecutive lines happening to coincide.
Example Sentences
- "Occasionally rivers overflow their banks and cause floods."
- "By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."
- "Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. The early, intense onset of the monsoon on June 14th swelled rivers, washing away roads, bridges, hotels and even whole villages. Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge."
- "a river of blood"
- "He called instantly but was too ashamed to show until the river."
- "Johnny rivered me by drawing that ace of spades."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁reyp- Proto-Indo-European *h₁réyp-eh₂ Proto-Italic *reipā Latin rīpa Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -ārius Latin rīpārius Early Medieval Latin rīpāria Anglo-Norman rivierebor. Middle English ryver English river 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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹɪvɚ/
- British English: /ˈɹɪvə/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Law.
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Abba River
Adelaide River
Agidel River
Alice River
Amazon river dolphin
American River
Amur River
Angelo River