Meanings
nounfish ladder (plural fish ladders)
plural fish ladders
- A structure built on or around dams or locks to facilitate the migration of fish.
We came to the base of an abnormally long perpendicular fish ladder, stretching up, up into shadow so overwhelmingly deep it seemed as if a pit had been inverted over our heads.
1941, Emily Carr, chapter 18, in Klee WyckSynonyms: fishway, fish pass, fish steps, salmon ladder
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA structure built on or around dams or locks to facilitate the migration of fish.
Translations
Danish fisketrappe
- fisketrappestructure to facilitate migration of fish
Dutch vistrap
- vistrapstructure to facilitate migration of fish
Finnish kalaporras
- kalaporrasstructure to facilitate migration of fish
French passe à poissons
- passe à poissonsstructure to facilitate migration of fish
German Fischtreppe
- Fischtreppestructure to facilitate migration of fish
Norwegian laksetrapp, fisketrapp
- laksetrappstructure to facilitate migration of fish
- fisketrappstructure to facilitate migration of fish
Spanish escalera ictícola, vía para pejes
- escalera ictícolastructure to facilitate migration of fish
- vía para pejesstructure to facilitate migration of fish
Swedish fisktrappa
- fisktrappastructure to facilitate migration of fish
Cite this entry
APA
fish ladder. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fish%20ladder
MLA
“fish ladder.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fish%20ladder. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fish ladder,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fish%20ladder.
Source: fish ladder on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.