dike

1 of 3

noun (1)

1
civil engineering : an artificial watercourse : ditch
2
civil engineering
a
: a bank (see bank entry 1 sense 1) usually of earth constructed to control or confine water : levee
b
: a barrier preventing passage especially of something undesirable
3
a
civil engineering : a raised causeway
b
geology : a tabular body of igneous rock that has been injected while molten into a fissure

dike

2 of 3

verb

diked; diking

transitive verb

1
civil engineering : to surround or protect with a dike (see dike entry 1)
2
civil engineering : to drain by a dike
diker noun civil engineering

dike

3 of 3

noun (2)

less common spelling of dyke

usually offensive

Examples of dike in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
With continuous heavy rain causing widespread flooding, the German army was deployed to help reinforce dikes in the Eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on Friday. Derrick Bryson Taylor, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024 That day, another noisy flow of magma left the sill and overfilled the dike. Robin George Andrews, Quanta Magazine, 20 Feb. 2024 And building the dike in Kazakhstan cut off the south part of the sea in Uzbekistan from its crucial water source. Victoria Milko, Quartz, 8 Feb. 2024 As a storm is slowly approaching, Gregers and his faithful dog inspect the obsolete dikes that protect his beloved island. Leo Barraclough, Variety, 30 Jan. 2024 In the storm’s wake, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers encased the lake with a 40-foot-tall dike, drastically altering the ecology of South Florida. Michael Adno, Rolling Stone, 7 Jan. 2024 Even one dike failure could inundate the camp in three hours, said Joshua Kanyara, an engineer with the United Nations’ migration agency, whose group helped in the construction. Chico Harlan, Washington Post, 2 Nov. 2023 After more than a week of heavy rain, dikes and temporary dams have become ineffective in some regions. Derrick Bryson Taylor, New York Times, 5 Jan. 2024 The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) has said that these earthquakes are very likely being caused by a magmatic dike intruding under the area. Erik Klemetti, Discover Magazine, 11 Nov. 2023
Verb
The decision was largely informed by alarmingly low salmon runs as a result of heavily dammed, diked and channeled streams struggling to maintain healthy flows in the face of droughts and warming summers. oregonlive, 17 June 2023 In addition to the hundreds of thousands of acres of marshland that were drained or diked off, the researchers discovered former wetlands that now are forested that were unknown to anybody. Peter Fimrite, SFChronicle.com, 17 Aug. 2019 Ed Musial blames a series of finger dikes the state installed in the 1980s for channeling the river past their homes. Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 30 June 2019 The southern banks along Svensen Slough, a side channel of the Columbia River, have transformed over time from historic spruce swamp into fields diked off by European settlers for farming. Edward Stratton, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Apr. 2018 Aerial photos show portions of the land – diked and drained for agriculture by the 1930s and cut in half by US Highway 30 by the 1970s – slowly returning to wetlands as levees broke down and breached. Edward Stratton, The Christian Science Monitor, 2 Apr. 2018 The tank area is believed to be diked and lined to contain spilled fuel. Zaz Hollander, Anchorage Daily News, 15 Mar. 2018 That was before humans drained and diked estuaries to build cities, grow crops, and make salt. National Geographic, 13 June 2017

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'dike.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1) and Verb

Middle English, probably from Old Norse dīk ditch and Middle Low German dīk dam; akin to Old English dīc ditch — more at ditch

First Known Use

Noun (1)

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of dike was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near dike

Cite this Entry

“Dike.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dike. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

dike

1 of 2 noun
1
: a channel dug in the earth to carry water : ditch
2
: a bank of earth constructed to control water : levee
3
: a long body of igneous rock that has been forced while molten into a narrow opening or crack

dike

2 of 2 verb
diked; diking
1
: to surround or protect with a dike
2
: to drain by a dike
diker noun

More from Merriam-Webster on dike

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