levee

1 of 3

noun (1)

le·​vee ˈle-vē 

lə-ˈvē, 

-ˈvā

1

: a reception held by a person of distinction on rising from bed

2

: an afternoon assembly at which the British sovereign or royal representative receives only men

3

: a reception usually in honor of a particular person

… the years of levees and parades and other suave peacetime occasions.

—Gladys B. Stern

levee

2 of 3

noun (2)

lev·​ee ˈle-vē 

1

a

: an embankment for preventing flooding

b

: a river landing place : pier

2

: a continuous dike or ridge (as of earth) for confining the irrigation areas of land to be flooded

levee

3 of 3

verb

lev·​ee ˈle-vē 

leveed; leveeing

transitive verb

: to provide with a levee

Synonyms of levee

Noun (2)

• dam
• embankment

Examples of levee in a Sentence

Noun (2)

the raging floodwaters were too much for the levee to handle

we tied the boat up at the levee and started unloading the fish we had caught

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Dollison served on the Internal Improvements Committee and introduced a bill to create a levee district in Clay and Greene counties. —Arkansas Online, 25 Apr. 2026

Constructing protective structures such as levees and dikes can help, as can preserving natural landscapes, such as wetlands and estuaries that can act as a natural sponge to absorb floodwaters, in and near the cities, Shao and her colleagues wrote. —Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 22 Apr. 2026

Verb

Construction has continued throughout a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers levee expansion project along the river, which is expected to finish at the end of the year, White said. —Sofi Zeman april 2, Kansas City Star, 2 Apr. 2026

In New Orleans, levee failures left about 80 percent of the city underwater, with some areas, like the Lower Ninth Ward, submerged under 12 feet of floodwater. —Janee Bolden, MSNBC Newsweek, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

French lever, from Middle French, act of arising, from (se) lever to rise

Noun (2)

French levée, from Old French, act of raising, from lever to raise — more at lever

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1672, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

circa 1720, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1832, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for levee

• bevy
• chevy
• heavy
• levy
• replevy

Kids Definition

levee

noun

lev·​ee

ˈlev-ē

1

: a bank built along a river to prevent flooding

2

: a landing place along a river