Definition of BRACKISH

Did You Know?

When the word brackish first appeared in English in the 1500s, it simply meant "salty," as did its Dutch ancestor "brak." Then, as now, brackish water could simply be a mixture of saltwater and freshwater. Since that time, however, "brackish" has developed the additional meanings of "unpalatable" or "distasteful" - presumably because of the undrinkable quality of saltwater. "The brackish water that we drink / Creeps with a loathsome slime, / And the bitter bread they weigh in scales / Is full of chalk and lime." As this use from Oscar Wilde's "Ballad of Reading Gaol" illustrates, brackish water can also include things other than salt that make it unpleasant to drink.

Examples of brackish in a Sentence

the office coffee is often some brackish brew that's been sitting around for a couple of hours the river becomes brackish as we approach the tidemark

Recent Examples on the Web

Computer models predict more than 3 feet of rain in the eastern part of the state, a fertile low-lying plain veined by brackish rivers with a propensity for escaping their banks. — Michael Biesecker, Fox News, "Hurricane could flood many waste sites, creating toxic brew," 12 Sep. 2018 Computer models predict more than 3 feet of rain in the eastern part of the state, a fertile low-lying plain veined by brackish rivers with a propensity for escaping their banks. — Michael Biesecker, The Seattle Times, "Hurricane could flood many waste sites, creating toxic brew," 11 Sep. 2018 European eels have complex life patterns, spending 15 to 20 years in fresh or brackish water in European waterways before crossing the Atlantic Ocean to spawn in the Sargasso Sea just east of the Caribbean and the U.S. Eastern Seaboard. — National Geographic, "Some Rivers Are So Drug-Polluted, Their Eels Get High on Cocaine," 20 June 2018 The shallow inland ocean had a series of connected waterways, and the particular one in the Dakotas was likely to be freshwater rather than salt water, or a sort of brackish mix in between. — John Wenz, Popular Mechanics, "A New Shark Species Was Found in the Mud of Sue the T. Rex," 21 Jan. 2019 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), eating raw seafood or exposing open wounds to brackish or salt water can increase a person’s risk of contracting the bacterial infection. — Michelle Gant, Fox News, "New Jersey fisherman with flesh-eating infection opting out of hospice care: He 'will continue to fight'," 6 Aug. 2018 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that variations of vibrio can be found in brackish or salt water. — Natalie Dreier, ajc, "Man contracts flesh-eating bacteria while crabbing, could lose arms, legs," 10 July 2018 Still, gators—who prefer freshwater marshes and swamps, but can also thrive in the brackish Glades—are the more plentiful species. — Tyler Moss, Condé Nast Traveler, "8 Best Places to See Wildlife in the U.S.," 23 Apr. 2018 And water siphoned off the Sacramento River in the northern delta would be fresher than what’s pumped now from the more brackish southern region. — George Skelton, latimes.com, "What do Southern Californians really get out of Gov. Jerry Brown's twin tunnels project?," 12 July 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'brackish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.