moats

noun

plural of moat
as in ditches
a deep, wide excavation that is usually filled with water and that goes around the walls of a place (such as a castle) to protect it from being attacked

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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 moats Deliberate validation of architecture, data integrity, ethics and customer input builds reliability and defensible moats. — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026 Supported by massive regulatory moats, long-term secular demand from GLP-1s and biologics and a clean balance sheet, West is exceptionally well-positioned to compound earnings and deliver strong returns over the long term. — Harvey Stober, CNBC, 5 Aug. 2026 The multi-billion-dollar market capitalizations of the top five on the list are driven by highly defensible business models, massive capital moats (as analysts describe them), and structural advantages within the freight sector. — Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 8 July 2026 Proprietary data, specialised hardware, scientific expertise and difficult-to-reproduce infrastructure are becoming durable moats. — Carl Fritjofsson, Fortune, 19 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for moats
  1. ditches
  2. trenches
  3. dikes
  4. gullies
  5. ravines
Noun
  • This untreated runoff makes its way through storm drains and ditches into our local streams and rivers and eventually, the ocean.
    — Jaclyn Cosgrove, Los Angeles Times, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Both townships and counties had authority to tax land thus providing funds for roads and ditches.
    — Edward Lotterman, Twin Cities, 26 July 2026
Definition of ditches
Noun
  • After working for more than a decade in club music’s trenches, the brothers now aspired to be not merely DJs, but a dance-music act known for spectacular live performances.
    — Will Pritchard, Pitchfork, 8 Aug. 2026
  • Now, stars broken in the reality trenches are crossing over into more traditional Hollywood offerings, with everyone from Netflix to A24 putting scripts into their hands.
    — Mia Galuppo, HollywoodReporter, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of trenches
Noun
  • Like many inland dikes, the barrier in agricultural fields near the small town of Waddinxveen, east of The Hague, is made of peat that needs to be damp to be strong enough to hold back water.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 2 Aug. 2026
  • As the dikes spread, the region faced earthquakes and brought back into action long dormant faults, draining the magma beneath the ridge.
    — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 9 July 2026
Definition of dikes
Noun
  • The dark form of the bear was rounding the ridges and gullies, appearing and disappearing among the brush in the direction of the head of the canyon.
    — Frank C. Hibben, Outdoor Life, 15 July 2026
  • Scott Gordon, chief of water enforcement for EPA’s regional office at the time, toured the site in 2000 and said he was shocked by how the industrial water found its path into the river, sometimes through gullies cut by the flow.
    — DYLAN JACKSON, ABC News, 6 May 2026
Definition of gullies
Noun
  • Hundreds, thousands of solar panels are distributed like macropixels among ravines, pampas, slopes, and wherever there’s room for them.
    — Cristina Dorador, The Dial, 14 July 2026
  • The gardens were developed in the 1930s on a site featuring natural ravines, now crossed by suspension bridges and laced with trails.
    — Elizabeth Rhodes, Travel + Leisure, 23 June 2026
Definition of ravines

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Cite this Entry

“Moats.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/moats. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

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