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

Lake effect snow is a common occurrence across the Great Lakes region in late fall and winter when cold air masses move over the relatively warm open waters of the lakes, the NWS says. —Joe Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025

And third, the wind needs to travel over open water for a distance. —Kelli Arseneau, jsonline.com, 10 Nov. 2025

But at the marginal ice zone, where melting ice meets open water, things got livelier. —Pranjal Malewar, New Atlas, 7 Nov. 2025

Once in the open water, the captain of the Barricuda 11 headed south from Palenque, the fishing boat loaded with migrants. —Daniel Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 6 Nov. 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