as in tributary
usually headwaters plural
the beginning part of a stream
the first exploration of the Missouri River from its mouth to its headwaters was made by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the early 1800s
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of headwater
Ashia Wilson, a member of the Klamath Tribes who lives at the river’s headwaters, said that the week before the paddlers reached the mouth Upper Klamath Lake, the home to the endemic c’waam and koptu fish, is now too toxic to touch.
—
Debra Utacia Krol, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
The heaviest rain is expected to occur across the headwaters of Peters Creek and Cache Creek.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025
The 2025 runoff season in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado's headwaters, is shaping up to be the seventh-driest since 1963, when the government built Glen Canyon Dam and formed Lake Powell.
—Austin Corona, AZCentral.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Much of the water near the headwaters, however, is diverted under the Continental Divide to Front Range communities.
—Elise Schmelzer, Denver Post, 15 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for headwater
Debra Utacia Krol, USA Today, 2 Sep. 2025
The heaviest rain is expected to occur across the headwaters of Peters Creek and Cache Creek.
—Anna Skinner, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025
The 2025 runoff season in the Rocky Mountains, the Colorado's headwaters, is shaping up to be the seventh-driest since 1963, when the government built Glen Canyon Dam and formed Lake Powell.
—Austin Corona, AZCentral.com, 15 Aug. 2025
Much of the water near the headwaters, however, is diverted under the Continental Divide to Front Range communities.
—Elise Schmelzer, Denver Post, 15 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for headwater
Recent Examples of Synonyms for headwater
Noun
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Don’t miss the Côa Museum, one of the country’s largest, perched at the mouth of the Côa River, a tributary of the Douro.—
Anna Mazurek,
AFAR Media,
26 Sep. 2025
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Sitting on a tributary of the Nile, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, took some 15 years to built and the Ethiopians see it as a key to their future economic prosperity.—
Ivana Kottasová,
CNN Money,
24 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Some workers, whose programs have alternative funding sources, continue to be paid on time.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
8 Oct. 2025
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Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
8 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Headwater.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/headwater. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.
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