drainage area

noun

Synonym of watershed.

Meanings

noundrainage area (plural drainage areas)

plural drainage areas

  1. Synonym of watershed.
    1 more example

    The name Chin-ch'uan during the Han period was applied to a tribe of the southern Man. During the Ming period, a lama monk of the Chin-ch'uan Monastery named Hai-mai was invested as Monk of the Transformation with hereditary domain in the Chin-ch'uan region. Subsequently his descendants (evidently he was a marrying monk) multiplied and spread out to inhabit the drainage area of the Chin Ch'uan or Gold River. During the early Ch'ing period when feudatories were conferred by the Manchu rulers, this region was divided up into the Ta-chin-ch'uan or Great Gold River, and the Hsiao-chin-ch'uan or Little Gold River territories.

    1954, Herold J. Wiens, “Tribal Uprisings”, in Han Chinese Expansion in South China, Shoe String Press, published 1967, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 192

    Synonyms: watershed

Synonyms & antonyms

nounSynonym of watershed.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet

Broader
geographical areageographic areageographical region

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Cite this entry
APA

drainage area. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20area

MLA

“drainage area.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20area. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drainage area,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20area.

Source: drainage area on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.