troughs

plural of trough
1
as in pipes
a long hollow cylinder for carrying a substance (as a liquid or gas) all of the wiring for the converted residential loft is concealed in a vertical trough

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2
as in ditches
a long narrow channel dug in the earth I slid and fell into the trough by the side of the road, scraping my leg

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3
as in gutters
a pipe or channel for carrying off water from a roof the troughs on the eaves of the house were clogged with leaves

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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 troughs There are several weather systems (troughs and areas of high pressure) that will be tying to steer the system late this week and over the weekend. Joe Edwards, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025 The machine would use a pen to physically scribble waves with peaks and troughs onto paper scrolling at a rate of 1 centimeter per second to create an electroencephalogram (EEG). Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta Magazine, 17 Oct. 2025 This effect is amplified by the natural asymmetry of sea waves – their crests are typically sharper and steeper than their flatter troughs. Francesco Fedele, The Conversation, 12 Aug. 2025 The hadal zone is primarily comprised of oceanic trenches and troughs — some of the deepest and least explored environments on Earth. Marlowe Starling, CNN Money, 11 Aug. 2025 Misjudgements and poor patches of form are part of the narrative in Test match troughs. Tim Ellis, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024 Additionally, several settlement pits, troughs, and above-ground structures were identified. Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 21 Dec. 2024 Not so with axions; quantum interference patterns would result in the distribution of axions in a galaxy's dark matter halo to come in peaks and troughs, each extending thousands of light-years. Keith Cooper, Space.com, 19 Dec. 2024 These winds blow west to east, but the belt can shift north and south, forming ridges and troughs. Claire Reid, Journal Sentinel, 27 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for troughs
Noun
  • Discover if these convenient detergent pods could actually be harming your pipes.
    Maria Sabella, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Sacramento County health inspectors shut down the Sacramento coffee shop after finding three live German cockroaches in the water heater closet, on the pipes behind the warewashing sink and under the ware washing drain board.
    Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 7 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Richmond Township voters shot down a ballot question about a new millage, not to exceed 1 mill, for five years to fund the maintenance of ditches, drains and roads.
    Christina Hall, Freep.com, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Nelson was a teenager who would sometimes work for Gacy, and remembered the contractor asking him to help dig some ditches, about six feet deep and four feet long.
    Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 24 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Residents who live on private streets and properties without curbs or gutters don’t qualify for a visit from the Claw.
    Sarah Linn November 5, Sacbee.com, 5 Nov. 2025
  • Beyond pipe replacements, some residents on the east side have been waiting for the city to add sidewalks and underground gutters as many communities still have a ditch gutter system to manage the water, which can be problematic for nearby homes due to flooding risk.
    Taylor O'Connor, Kansas City Star, 29 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • The FinCEN Files show how banks remain vital conduits in moving illicit money out of reach.
    Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Piergiorgio Scarlato and Jacopo Taddeucci Data from SKATE is helping scientists test hypotheses about how gas bubbles rise and burst inside magma, how volcanic conduits are shaped, and study subsurface processes that ordinary monitoring can’t see.
    IEEE Spectrum, IEEE Spectrum, 3 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • Chinese reports stated that the attack-type wolf robots cleared barbed wire and trenches in three to five minutes, while the transport variants followed closely behind.
    Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • That has included decreasing the practice of flood irrigation, in which water flows through trenches between rows of plants.
    Huma Tariq Malik, The Conversation, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • According to Buder, who also works as an engineer at Vielo, the aircraft-grade carbon tubes were first cleaned and cut to size, then bonded using an epoxy-carbon composite.
    Georgina Jedikovska, Interesting Engineering, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The outlet also revisited Cheney’s justification for the Iraq War, citing his claims about aluminum tubes allegedly linked to nuclear weapons development.
    Shane Croucher, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 Nov. 2025
Noun
  • One of the original Florida state parks, opened to the public in 1935, the 13,000-acre expanse felt more like Georgia or North Carolina with its high plateaus, steep ravines, waterfalls, and seasonal foliage.
    Carrie Honaker, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2025
  • And at Wallow Hallow Woods, tucked across the ravines and slopes unscathed by fire, beech and maple trees still grow.
    Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 29 Oct. 2025
Noun
  • Stream the basketball games in both men’s and women’s sports on top channels like ABC, FOX, NBC, CBS, ESPN, SEC Network, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, FS1, and more.
    Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Nov. 2025
  • At least 20 people were injured in the explosion, TV channels reported, as ambulances raced to the scene.
    Shivam Patel, USA Today, 10 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Troughs.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/troughs. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.

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