: a passage for surplus water to run over or around an obstruction (such as a dam)
Examples of spillway in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The largest among them, the Hardy Dam on the Muskegon River, needs a multi-hundred-million-dollar spillway upgrade to comply with modern flood safety standards.
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CBS News, 12 June 2026
Their water levels are controlled by spillways that prevent flooding and keep salt water out of the region’s drinking water.
—Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 23 May 2026
It’s believed that Nourse was fishing in the spillway below the lower dam at Lake Lowell before falling into the water.
—Idaho Statesman, 20 May 2026
That winter, the concrete spillway collapsed in one section during massive storms, prompting the evacuation of 188,000 people as water raged into the river below, and concerns grew that part of the dam might fail.
—Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for spillway
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CBS News, 12 June 2026
Their water levels are controlled by spillways that prevent flooding and keep salt water out of the region’s drinking water.
—Bill Kearney, Sun Sentinel, 23 May 2026
It’s believed that Nourse was fishing in the spillway below the lower dam at Lake Lowell before falling into the water.
—Idaho Statesman, 20 May 2026
That winter, the concrete spillway collapsed in one section during massive storms, prompting the evacuation of 188,000 people as water raged into the river below, and concerns grew that part of the dam might fail.
—Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for spillway
Cite this Entry
“Spillway.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spillway. Accessed 23 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
spillway
noun
spill·way
ˈspil-ˌwā 
: a passage for extra water to run over or around a dam
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