Thesaurus results for FLOODGATE

floodgate

noun

Definition of floodgate

as in sluice

Related Words

Relevance

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 floodgate The floodgates opened early on Friday night at loanDepot Park. — Tyler Carmona, Miami Herald, 6 June 2026 The floodgates to common sense have busted open, testing political natural selection. — Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 5 June 2026 This doesn’t and shouldn’t open the floodgates throughout the rest of a firm. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 19 May 2026 Hilary Crowley, a county spokeswoman, said a $100 million floodgate completed in 2024 has been infested with the relentless mollusks, requiring an expensive removal. — Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 8 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for floodgate

Recent Examples of Synonyms for floodgate

Noun

The water flow is being managed at Canton Lake, and the Corps of Engineers said the goal is to have between 600 and 730 cubic feet of water per second leave through sluice gates during the greatest period of flow.

— Dale Denwalt, Oklahoman, 22 Sep. 2026
Dam Removal Europe found that the number of dams dismantled in 2025, along with other water-flow controls like weirs, culverts and sluices, grew by 11% from the year before.

— Chas Newkey-Burden, TheWeek, 3 June 2026

Definition of sluice

Noun

The circumstances are objectively potent — but Udofia smothers them in such a barrage of cutesiness and self-conscious signalling that a wall rises between us and the play.

— Sara Holdren, Vulture, 2 Oct. 2026
That, on top of a barrage of press from its cast (including, perhaps most notably, bonafide internet boyfriend Jack Innanen) seems to have worked.

— Mikey O'Connell, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of barrage

Noun

Public Works is preparing for 24-hour operations, monitoring low-water crossings, dams, roadways, debris and traffic signals while staging barricades for potential road closures.

— Jacob Beltran, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Sep. 2026
There are plenty of barricades built with the explicit goal of keeping certain types of artists from access ing those rooms.

— Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2026

Definition of barricade

Noun

Removing the weir will lower the entire lagoon’s water level by several feet and restore the ebb and flow of ocean tides to the basin.

— Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 May 2026
Known as Big John, the man was fined and forced to dismantle his traditional fish weir or risk imprisonment after he was reported for fishing outside of the reservation.

— Aubrey Violeta Gelpieryn, CBS News, 30 May 2026

Definition of weir

Browse Nearby Words

flooded

floodgate

floodgates

See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

Style

“Floodgate.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/floodgate. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

Synonyms of floodgate

noun

Example Sentences

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

More from Merriam-Webster on floodgate

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

perseverate

Popular in Grammar & Usage

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

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

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Popular in Wordplay

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Popular

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

Games & Quizzes