wadi

noun

wa·​di ˈwä-dē 

1

: the bed or valley of a stream in regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa that is usually dry except during the rainy season and that often forms an oasis : gully, wash

2

: a shallow usually sharply defined depression in a desert region

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

The fresh air, the space while clambering over rocks in a wadi, or valley, and the austere style of the Bear Grylls camp appears for now to offer the opposite of that. —Jon Gambrell, chicagotribune.com, 9 Oct. 2020

The fresh air, the space while clambering over rocks in a wadi, or valley, and the austere style of the Bear Grylls camp appears for now to offer the opposite of that. —Jon Gambrell, Star Tribune, 9 Oct. 2020

Another of Bogaczewicz’s photographs captures a Saudi family having a picnic under a highway overpass, much as their bedouin ancestors might have stopped their caravansary by a desert wadi to have a meal. —Wired, 26 Nov. 2019

Laughter of couples crossing the lawn, sinking into the darkness of the wadi. —Amos Oz, Harper's magazine, 10 Apr. 2019

But in the late 1800s, the Ottoman Empire began a new settlement at Jerash, mostly on the eastern bank of the wadi, on top of the ancient remains of that half of the city. —Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 30 May 2018

The spring that filled the Birketein reservoir, where modern residents swim, would have supplied about a quarter of the ancient city, along with water from upstream in the wadi. —Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 30 May 2018

One geologist, Ernie Berg, noticed that a wadi, or ancient riverbed, took a mysterious turn. —Stanley Reed, New York Times, 16 June 2018

In northern Jordan, along a wadi once called the Golden River, the ancient city of Jerash sits uneasily alongside its modern namesake. —Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 30 May 2018

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Word History

Etymology

Arabic wādi

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

wadi

noun

wa·​di ˈwäd-ē 

: the bed or valley of a stream in regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa that is usually dry except during the rainy season