Meanings
noundrainage basin (plural drainage basins)
plural drainage basins
- geographyA topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet; a watershed.
The efficient evaluation of these plans, which may include the construction of dams, reservoirs, and settling basins, requires information on sediment transport in the Cache Creek drainage basin.
1967, Lawrence K. Lustig, Robert D. Busch, Sediment Transport in Cache Creek Drainage Basin in the Coast Ranges West of Sacramento, California, page 2Synonyms: watershed, catchment area, catchment basin
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet; a watershed.
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.
Translations
Bulgarian водосборна зона, водосборен басейн
- водосборна зона (vodosborna zona)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- водосборен басейн (vodosboren basejn)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Catalan conca
- concatopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Chinese Mandarin 流域
- 流域 (liúyù)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Czech povodí, úmoří
- povodítopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- úmořítopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Danish afvandingsområde
- afvandingsområdetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Dutch stroomgebied, spaarbekken
- stroomgebiedtopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- spaarbekkentopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Finnish valuma-alue, vesistöalue
- valuma-aluetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- vesistöaluetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
French bassin versant
- bassin versanttopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
German Einzugsgebiet, Wassereinzugsgebiet
- Einzugsgebiettopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- Wassereinzugsgebiettopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Greek λεκάνη απορροής
- λεκάνη απορροής (lekáni aporroḯs)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Hebrew אגן היקוות, אגן ניקוז
- אגן היקוות (agán hikavút)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- אגן ניקוזtopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Hindi जलविभाजन
- जलविभाजन (jalvibhājan)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Hungarian vízgyűjtő terület
- vízgyűjtő területtopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Indonesian daerah aliran sungai
- daerah aliran sungaitopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Italian bacino idrografico, bacino imbrifero
- bacino idrograficotopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- bacino imbriferotopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Japanese 流域
- 流域 (ryūiki)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Norwegian Bokmål nedbørfelt
- nedbørfelttopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Polish dorzecze, zlewnia
- dorzeczetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- zlewniatopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- zlewiskotopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Portuguese bacia hidrográfica
- bacia hidrográficatopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Romanian bazin de drenaj, bazin hidrografic
- bazin de drenajtopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- bazin hidrografictopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Russian бассе́йн, бассе́йн водоёма
- бассе́йн (basséjn)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- бассе́йн водоёма (basséjn vodojóma)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- водосбо́р (vodosbór)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- водосбо́рная пло́щадь (vodosbórnaja plóščadʹ)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Slovak úvodie, povodie
- úvodietopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- povodietopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Spanish cuenca hidrográfica, cuenca
- cuenca hidrográficatopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- cuencatopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Swedish flodområde, avrinningsområde
- flodområdetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
- avrinningsområdetopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Vietnamese lưu vực
- lưu vựctopographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Yiddish באַסיין
- באַסיין (baseyn)topographic region in which all water drains to a common outlet
Cite this entry
APA
drainage basin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20basin
MLA
“drainage basin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20basin. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “drainage basin,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/drainage%20basin.
Source: drainage basin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.