al·lu·vi·al
ə-ˈlü-vē-əl 
: relating to, composed of, or found in alluvium
alluvial soil
alluvial diamonds
: an alluvial deposit
Examples of alluvial in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024
The colony’s infrastructure remained rudimentary, most of the small German settler population lived in poverty, and the indigenous African labor force toiled to mine alluvial diamonds under horrendous conditions.
—Steven Press, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
The forested ridges catch rain, and water percolates into the canyon’s alluvial soil, where the trees’ roots tap into shallow groundwater.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
More recently, a 2020 study estimated that around 30% of today's land cover is forest in the Lower Mississippi alluvial valley, the historic floodplain of the lower river, while forests used to be continuous across the valley.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 5 Aug. 2023
These operations will increase in intensity as more intelligence is built up—an alluvial process that takes time.
—Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2014
But over the past few decades, more and more spectacular and extensive early Buddhist sites have begun to emerge from the region’s rich alluvial soils.
—William Dalrymple, The New York Review of Books, 31 Aug. 2023
This pottery is made of the alluvial soil that makes the Indo-Gangetic plains so fertile.
—Ruby Mellen, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2023
Its being one of the biggest remaining bottomland hardwood forests in the Mississippi alluvial valley meant wildlife viewing would be exceptional.
—Bob Robinson, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2023
Jim Wyss and Kyra Gurney, miamiherald, 16 Jan. 2018
Adjective
Altitude and limestone soils alone do not produce great wine; the differences within Adrianna, besides variations in vineyard height, lie in the top layer of soil, which is mainly alluvial, caused by an ancient river that ran through here, and eolic, formed by wind.
—Mike Desimone and Jeff Jenssen, Robb Report, 9 Apr. 2024
The colony’s infrastructure remained rudimentary, most of the small German settler population lived in poverty, and the indigenous African labor force toiled to mine alluvial diamonds under horrendous conditions.
—Steven Press, Foreign Affairs, 19 Oct. 2021
The forested ridges catch rain, and water percolates into the canyon’s alluvial soil, where the trees’ roots tap into shallow groundwater.
—Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 29 Nov. 2023
More recently, a 2020 study estimated that around 30% of today's land cover is forest in the Lower Mississippi alluvial valley, the historic floodplain of the lower river, while forests used to be continuous across the valley.
—Taylor Wilson, USA TODAY, 5 Aug. 2023
These operations will increase in intensity as more intelligence is built up—an alluvial process that takes time.
—Foreign Affairs, 14 Dec. 2014
But over the past few decades, more and more spectacular and extensive early Buddhist sites have begun to emerge from the region’s rich alluvial soils.
—William Dalrymple, The New York Review of Books, 31 Aug. 2023
This pottery is made of the alluvial soil that makes the Indo-Gangetic plains so fertile.
—Ruby Mellen, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2023
Its being one of the biggest remaining bottomland hardwood forests in the Mississippi alluvial valley meant wildlife viewing would be exceptional.
—Bob Robinson, Arkansas Online, 19 June 2023
Noun
Key to that fight is destroying and seizing the costly heavy machinery that’s being used in the operations — most blatantly the diggers and dredges employed in riverside, or alluvial, mining.
—Jim Wyss and Kyra Gurney, miamiherald, 16 Jan. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'alluvial.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Alluvial.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alluvial. Accessed 19 Apr. 2024.
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