1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

dams 1 of 2

noun

plural of dam
as in levees
a bank of earth constructed to control water the river backed up behind the dam until it formed a new lake

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

dams

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of dam
1
as in blocks
to prevent passage through by filling with something ice floes were damming the river

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in fills
to close up so that no empty spaces remain dam up the pipes

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of dams
Noun
Detectives drained three dams, searched six mineshafts and sent up drones with specialized cameras to take detailed imagery, later analyzed with artificial intelligence. — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026 Their operators, the state Department of Water Resources and the Yuba Water Agency, release what the dams cannot hold. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2026 The flood also broke through several hydropower dams in the Bhote Koshi river basin. — Tarun Gopalakrishnan, The Conversation, 18 Sep. 2026 The aqueduct seemed to make the city’s founding river not just obsolete but dangerous, so construction began on catch basins, dams and reservoirs. — Patt Morrison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2026 In some ways, shorebirds are analogous to the wolves that hunt the deer and elk populations that eat the tree saplings that become the trees that beavers use to build dams that help the fish—and so on. — Rivka Galchen, New Yorker, 14 Sep. 2026 But while the former Dana Dam is a major environmental success story, there are many aging dams in the state that are posing similar ecological barriers. — Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 14 Sep. 2026 Disrupted first by the dams and then by transplanted predatory sportfish such as bass, its population landed on the endangered species list in 1991. — Brandon Loomis, AZCentral.com, 8 Sep. 2026 The governor’s office said the state was securing its harbors, deploying emergency personnel to strategic locations and monitoring dams for any possible breaches or overflows. — Dennis Romero, NBC news, 6 Sep. 2026
Verb
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened at the Edenville and Sanford dams. — ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026 Glacial outburst floods happen when the ice dams holding back glacial lakes fail, allowing a sudden release of water. — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 13 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for dams
  1. levees
  2. blocks
  3. fills
  4. embankments
  5. obstructs
  6. plugs
  7. floods
  8. packs
Noun
  • Old levees and dams, for example, can leave a community vulnerable to catastrophic flooding, as the Seattle area saw in December 2025 when flooding from heavy rainfall broke levees in multiple communities.
    — Bethany Tietjen, The Conversation, 21 Sep. 2026
  • Before there were levees, there were 4 million acres of wetland here, an inland marsh that took the Sierra’s runoff every spring.
    — Sean Macaday, Sacbee.com, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of levees
Verb
  • Her cause of death was determined to be a pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis (DVT), in which a blood clot travels to the lungs and blocks an artery, the BBC reported.
    — Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Comfort, breathability, and packability are just a few of the boxes checked by this bamboo-viscose hoodie that blocks 95 percent of the sun’s UV rays (and comes in women’s sizes).
    — Katie Jackson, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of blocks
Verb
  • Owner Srikanth Devineni of Huntersville said the project fills a gap for families in the Lake Norman community.
    — Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Observer, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Battery storage fills gaps Cormorant is being built to help California manage periods when electricity demand is high but generation from sources such as solar power is falling.
    — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 17 Sep. 2026
Definition of fills
Noun
  • How levees work Levees are earthen embankments positioned parallel to a river that effectively raise the height of the banks of the river to prevent overflow when the river swells.
    — Kaleigh Yost, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Ewa Mroczkowska’s production design also turns dewy embankments, decadent interiors, and sunrises over cemeteries into visions of storybook-like decay.
    — Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 5 Sep. 2026
Definition of embankments
Verb
  • Don't tail large vehicles closely - Trucks or buses can kick up a water spray that obstructs visibility.
    — NC Weather Bot, Charlotte Observer, 13 July 2026
  • Anatasia steals a truck and obstructs their path, sacrificing herself to a bleak future, all in the name of love.
    — Hunter Ingram, Variety, 10 July 2026
Definition of obstructs
Verb
  • Essentially, earbuds—or anything else that plugs up your ear canal for long periods of time—could lead to a greater buildup of wax if your body isn’t able to get rid of it.
    — Julia Landwehr, HEALTH, 14 Sep. 2026
  • Wilson plugs a creative gap in the Leeds line-up off that inside-right channel.
    — Aston Villa, New York Times, 13 July 2026
Definition of plugs
Verb
  • The rabbit does not control the rain that floods its burrow or the drought that kills its food.
    — Chris Lee, ArsTechnica, 11 Sep. 2026
  • The camera moves constantly and visual information — lights, split screens, colors, sounds, movement — floods the viewer.
    — William Earl, Variety, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of floods
Verb
  • It’s been around forever, packs a punch, and helped us defeat the Nazis in World War II.
    — John B. Snow, Outdoor Life, 24 Sep. 2026
  • More than 74,000 people attend the eight-day festival each year, which packs SCAD’s historic theaters and studio spaces with competition titles, features, documentaries, shorts, animation, panels and workshops.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of packs

Browse Nearby Words

damps
dams
damsel
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Dams.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/dams. Accessed 27 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 25
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of the words cracker fly and sale arranged in a triangle with the word fire in the middle
Triple Play Quiz Find the word that pairs with each of the three g...
See All