as in shallow
lacking significant physical depth
shoal waters of the bay meant that our ship had to be moored a considerable distance from shore
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Recent Examples of shoal
Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 20 Jan. 2026
An emergency dredging is not needed to clear a hazardous shoal that’s developed at the Oceanside harbor entrance, though the annual dredging could be scheduled earlier than usual next spring, a federal official said Tuesday.
—Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
Theories range from the Edmund Fitzgerald striking a shoal and suffering bottom damage to flooding through the freighter's hatch covers, which filled the ship with water and sank it, to rogue waves, to structural flaws in the ship that the 1975 storm made deadly.
—Doyle Rice, USA Today, 9 Nov. 2025
The debris appears as a large cloud of dirty water seen beyond the shoals off Montego Bay.
—Avery Schmitz, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoal
Noun
The park service first documented zebra mussels during a training dive at the SS Sevona shipwreck off the Sand Island shoal in 2015.
—Caitlin Looby, jsonline.com, 20 Jan. 2026
An emergency dredging is not needed to clear a hazardous shoal that’s developed at the Oceanside harbor entrance, though the annual dredging could be scheduled earlier than usual next spring, a federal official said Tuesday.
—Phil Diehl, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Dec. 2025
Theories range from the Edmund Fitzgerald striking a shoal and suffering bottom damage to flooding through the freighter's hatch covers, which filled the ship with water and sank it, to rogue waves, to structural flaws in the ship that the 1975 storm made deadly.
—Doyle Rice, USA Today, 9 Nov. 2025
The debris appears as a large cloud of dirty water seen beyond the shoals off Montego Bay.
—Avery Schmitz, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for shoal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shoal
Adjective
-
Stir together flour, cornstarch, black pepper, salt, paprika, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper in a separate shallow bowl.—
Gretchen McKay,
Twin Cities,
26 Mar. 2026
-
Ladd created one party closet from a long, shallow closet with bi-fold doors.—
Kelley Bruss,
Dallas Morning News,
26 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
In February, the judge overseeing the case dismissed several claims against the bank, but let stand two others.—
Chase Jordan,
Charlotte Observer,
30 Mar. 2026
-
Those tasks included going to a bank for ransom money.—
Lauren Clark,
CBS News,
29 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Shoal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shoal. Accessed 31 Mar. 2026.
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