tidewater

noun

tide·​wa·​ter ˈtīd-ˌwȯ-tər 

-ˌwä-

1

: water overflowing land at flood tide

also : water affected by the ebb and flow of the tide

2

: low-lying coastal land

Examples of tidewater in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

See Kenai Fjords National Park by boat; Major Marine Tours offers full-day wildlife and tidewater glacier tours into the park. —Lydia Mansel, Travel + Leisure, 10 Nov. 2025

The repatriation of more than 300 northern tidewater gobies — led by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains — marked a peaceful moment in a region still reeling from the aftermath of wildfires and now in turmoil due to federal immigration raids. —Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 18 June 2025

Here are a few of our favorites from the West: Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska Glacier Bay National Park, in southeast Alaska, is a jaw-dropping wilderness where massive tidewater glaciers calve into icy waters and humpback whales surface with breathtaking grace. —USA Today, 11 June 2025

The Potomac, one of the good Eastern black-bass rivers, offers some 400 miles of fair-to-excellent fishing-mostly smallmouths upstream from Great Falls on the outskirts of Washington, D. C., and largemouths in the tidewater downstream. —Arthur Grahame, Outdoor Life, 4 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1772, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for tidewater

• annunciator
• imprimatur
• underwater
• backwater
• bathwater
• blackwater
• breakwater
• deepwater
• edgewater
• feedwater
• floodwater
• freshwater

Kids Definition

tidewater

noun

tide·​wa·​ter -ˌwȯt-ər 

-ˌwät-

1

: water overflowing land at high tide

2

: low-lying coastal land

Geographical Definition

Tidewater

geographical name

Tide·​wa·​ter ˈtīd-ˌwȯ-tər 

-ˌwä-

low-lying region of eastern Virginia extending from Chesapeake Bay to the Piedmont; site of the first English settlements in America