diluvial

adjective

di·​lu·​vi·​al də-ˈlü-vē-əl 

dī-

variants or diluvian

də-ˈlü-vē-ən 

dī-

: of, relating to, or brought about by a flood

Did you know?

Late Latin diluvialis means "flood." It’s from Latin diluere ("to wash away") and ultimately from "lavere" ("to wash"). English "diluvial" and its variant "diluvian" initially referred to the Biblical Flood. Geologists, archaeologists, fossilists, and the like used the words, beginning back in the mid-1600s, to mark a distinct geological turning point associated with the Flood. They also used "antediluvian" and "postdiluvian" to describe the periods before and after the Flood. It wasn’t until the 1800s that people started using "diluvial" for floods and flooding in general. American educator and essayist Caroline M. Kirkland, one early user of this sense, wrote, "Much of our soil is said to be diluvial - the wash of the great ocean lakes as they overflowed towards the south," in her essay Forest Life in 1850.

Examples of diluvial in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Seas will be higher, rain more diluvial and storms fiercer. —The Economist, 19 Sep. 2019

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Late Latin dīluviālis, from Latin dīluvium "flood, inundation" + -ālis -al entry 1 — more at deluge

First Known Use

circa 1656, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for diluvial

• alluvial
• colluvial
• fluvial
• pluvial

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