open water

noun

plural open waters

: water that is clear of obstacles to passage or view : water that is open (see open entry 1 sense 7a)

The word marsh conjures up a mental picture of a soggy, flat area filled with cattails and other herbaceous vegetation, with ducks sitting on patches of open water.

—Robert H. Mohlenbrock

often, specifically : water that is free of ice

When the river froze in the fall, a mile of open water had been left between two mighty jams.

—Jack London

Polynyas were areas of persistent open water, found throughout the circumpolar arctic, places kept ice-free by currents and wind patterns.

—David R. Masiel

Because the penguins feed in the ocean, they typically set up colonies near open water and must establish new nests when the coastline becomes covered in … ice.

—Science News

Examples of open water in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

With Azamara, Seabourn and Regent Seven Seas Cruises now part of the JetBlue Vacations portfolio, travelers can choose from a wider variety of experiences on the open water. —Eileen Falkenberg-Hull, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025

Although she’s trekked through the Himalayas, hiked in Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest, and swam with sharks in open water, her greatest adventure has been becoming a mom. —Kristy Alpert, Outside, 3 Nov. 2025

An early freeze had trapped them in an icebound lagoon four miles short of open water. —Virginia Chamlee, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025

The design separates the panels with open water corridors at least 13 feet (four meters) wide. —Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 13 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1625, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for open water

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