Definition of littoral
: of, relating to, or situated or growing on or near a shore especially of the sea
- littoral waters
What's Trending Now
More Trending Words
littoral was our Word of the Day on 07/30/2016. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Examples of littoral in a Sentence
littoral warfare includes amphibious landings
Recent Examples of littoral from the Web
-
The USS Little Rock is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship built by Marinette Marine on the shores of the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin.
-
The bride’s father retired as the vice president in charge of design and engineering of the United State’s Navy’s littoral combat ship construction at Bath Iron Works, a division, in Bath, Me.
-
The Navy currently fields 17 Virginia-class fast attack submarines, which are built to operate in the world's littoral and deep waters.
-
The other part is building closer defence co-operation with its non-NATO neighbour, Finland, as well as with America and Baltic littoral states in NATO.
-
But to make the ships work, crews selected for the littoral combat fleet needed to perform multiple jobs, putting a premium on training.
-
After a brief tour of the littoral combat ship Gabrielle Giffords alongside its skipper, Cmdr.
-
Weapons procurement is a top priority, including two additional littoral combat ships above Trump’s request and 14 unrequested next-generation F-35 fighters.
-
Weapons procurement is a top priority, including two additional littoral combat ships above Trump's request and 14 unrequested next-generation F-35 fighters.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'littoral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
You're most likely to encounter littoral in contexts relating to the military and marine sciences. A littoral combat ship is a fast and easily maneuverable combat ship built for use in coastal waters. And in marine ecology, the littoral zone is a coastal zone characterized by abundant dissolved oxygen, sunlight, nutrients, and generally high wave energies and water motion. Littoral can also be found as a noun referring to a coastal region or, more technically, to the shore zone between the high tide and low tide points. The adjective is the older of the two, dating from the mid-17th century; the noun dates from the early 19th century. The word comes to English from Latin litoralis, itself from litor- or litus, meaning "seashore."
Origin and Etymology of littoral
Latin litoralis, from litor-, litus seashore
NEW! Time Traveler
First Known Use: circa 1656
in the meaning defined above
See Words from the same yearlittoral Synonyms
Synonyms
Near Antonyms
Definition of littoral
: a coastal region;
especially
: the shore zone between high tide and low tide points
Recent Examples of littoral from the Web
-
The USS Jackson, a littoral, or shallow-water, combat ship, traveled from Astoria to Portland on Thursday, arriving in downtown Portland for Fleet Week.
-
Specifically, at a time when military strategists assessed that the greatest threats to Chinese security were coming from the sea off China’s littorals, the PLA was still dominated institutionally and doctrinally by the ground forces.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'littoral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of littoral
Other Oceanography Terms
LITTORAL Defined for English Language Learners
Definition of littoral for English Language Learners
-
: of, relating to, or having a coast
Law Dictionary
Learn More about littoral
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up littoral? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
