tailrace

noun

tail·​race ˈtāl-ˌrās How to pronounce tailrace (audio)
: a race for conveying water away from a point of industrial application (such as a waterwheel or turbine) after use

Examples of tailrace in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Pickwick is simply a great place to fish, and that’s on the lake or in the tailrace below its dam. Dave Shively, Outside Online, 13 Aug. 2025 Over the course of several days this April, Dahl fished a deep tailrace of the Cannon River just below a dam. Dac Collins, Outdoor Life, 11 June 2025 The Canyon Lake tailrace is the oldest of all the stocking sites. Matt Williams, Dallas News, 23 Dec. 2022 Then there’s the marvel that is the tailrace tunnel (the channel that discharged the tailwater back to the river), built in the early 1900s with little more than pickaxes, shovels and rudimentary dynamite. Laura Randall, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2022 Actually, the tailrace of all of the TVA dams in Alabama—Guntersville, Wheeler and Wilson—are productive smallmouth fisheries. Frank Sargeant, al, 7 Nov. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1776, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of tailrace was in 1776

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Cite this Entry

“Tailrace.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tailrace. Accessed 10 Sep. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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