Meanings
reservoir1
plural reservoirs
- A place where anything is kept in store.
Within a printer cartridge, ink is typically stored in an ink reservoir and is deposited onto media through a print head.
2013, Siloxanes—Advances in Research and Application, page 422 more examples
Notwithstanding the way in which she had, in what she termed "the delicacy of her feelings," contrived to pour the receipts of the fancy fair into one reservoir, the duke and several other persons complimented Lady Anne very much on the superior beauty and value of her articles,...
1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XLI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 226The vehicle is fitted with Westinghouse electro-pneumatic brake, and also a Northey exhauster with vacuum chamber and auxiliary reservoir adjacent to the guard's compartment for use when hauling vehicles equipped with vacuum brake gear.
1956 October, “Recent Changes on the Tyneside Electrified Lines”, in Railway Magazine, page 661 - A large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply.
Synonyms: conservatory
- A small intercellular space, often containing resin, essential oil, or some other secreted matter.
- A supply or source of something.
To replace them and also to provide a reservoir for relief trains, a certain amount of spare stock must be kept on hand.
1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 2001 more example
The goal is to draw on reservoirs of strength that defy rational thought, so you can wrench your poor, obsessed spirit away from work and orient it toward stuff that matters.
2007 November, Gil Schwartz, “Escape from the job monster”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 122 - A species that acts as host to a zoonosis when it is not causing acute illness in other susceptible species.
1 more example
Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.
2013 May-June, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 193 - computingA "black box" component that receives an input signal to be read out and mapped by another process, as part of reservoir computing.
present singular third person reservoirs · participle present reservoiring · participle past reservoired · past reservoired
Reservoir2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply.
More synonyms by meaning
nounlake used to store water for community use; a lake (natural or artificial) used to store water and used as a source of water
nounanything (a person or animal or plant or substance) in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frenchréserver“to reserve, keep”
- Frenchréservoir“collection place”
- Englishreservoir
From French réservoir (“collection place”) (fig.), réservoir (“storehouse”) (lit.). in turn from French réserver (“to reserve, keep”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek δεξαμενή
- δεξαμενή (dexamenḗ)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Arabic حَوْض, جَابِيَة
- حَوْض (ḥawḍ)place where anything is kept in store
- جَابِيَة (jābiya)place where anything is kept in store
- خَزَّان (ḵazzān)place where anything is kept in store
- فِنْطَاس (finṭās)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Bulgarian резервоа́р, склад
- резервоа́р (rezervoár)place where anything is kept in store
- склад (sklad)place where anything is kept in store
- хранилище (hranilište)place where anything is kept in store
- язови́р (jazovír)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- водохрани́лище (vodohranílište)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Catalan embassament
- embassamentlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Chinese Mandarin 儲備 /储备, 水庫 /水库
- 儲備 /储备 (chǔbèi)place where anything is kept in store
- 水庫 /水库 (shuǐkù)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Czech nádrž, nádrž
- nádržplace where anything is kept in store
- nádržlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Danish reservoir, beholder
- reservoirplace where anything is kept in store
- beholderplace where anything is kept in store
- reservoirlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Dutch reservoir, stuwmeer
- reservoirplace where anything is kept in store
- stuwmeerlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Esperanto rezervujo
- rezervujoplace where anything is kept in store
Finnish varasto, järvi
- varastoplace where anything is kept in store
- järvilarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- tekojärvilarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- tekoallaslarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- patoallaslarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- allaslarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
French réservoir, réservoir
- réservoirplace where anything is kept in store
- réservoirlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
German Reservoir, Behälter
- Reservoirplace where anything is kept in store
- Behälterplace where anything is kept in store
- Behältnisplace where anything is kept in store
- Vorratsbehälterplace where anything is kept in store
- Stauseelarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Greek δεξαμενή, υδροταμιευτήρας
- δεξαμενή (dexamení)place where anything is kept in store
- υδροταμιευτήρας (ydrotamieftíras)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Hindi कोश, जलाशय
- कोश (koś)place where anything is kept in store
- जलाशय (jalāśay)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- हौज़ (hauz)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Hungarian tároló, tár
- tárolóplace where anything is kept in store
- tárplace where anything is kept in store
- víztározólarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- tározólarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- víztárolólarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Indonesian penampungan, reservoir
- penampunganplace where anything is kept in store
- reservoirplace where anything is kept in store
- waduklarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- takunganlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Italian invaso, bacino
- invasolarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- bacinolarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Japanese 貯水池
- 貯水池 (chosuichi)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Korean 저수지, 저수지
- 저수지 (jeosuji)place where anything is kept in store
- 저수지 (jeosuji)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Malay takungan
- takunganlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Norwegian Bokmål reservoar, reservoar
- reservoarplace where anything is kept in store
- reservoarlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Polish rezerwuar, zbiornik
- rezerwuarplace where anything is kept in store
- zbiornikplace where anything is kept in store
- rezerwuarlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- zbiorniklarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- akwenlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Portuguese reservatório, barragem
- reservatórioplace where anything is kept in store
- barragemplace where anything is kept in store
- reservatóriolarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Romanian rezervor, rezervor
- rezervorplace where anything is kept in store
- rezervorlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- lac de acumularelarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Russian резервуа́р, храни́лище
- резервуа́р (rezervuár)place where anything is kept in store
- храни́лище (xranílišče)place where anything is kept in store
- водохрани́лище (vodoxranílišče)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- водоём (vodojóm)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Slovak nádrž
- nádržlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Spanish embalse, pantano
- embalselarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- pantanolarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- pantanolarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Swedish reservoar, vattenmagasin
- reservoarplace where anything is kept in store
- vattenmagasinlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Thai อ่างเก็บน้ำ
- อ่างเก็บน้ำ (àang-gèp-náam)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Turkish depo, mahzen
- depoplace where anything is kept in store
- mahzenplace where anything is kept in store
- ambarplace where anything is kept in store
- rezervlarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Ukrainian резервуа́р, схо́вище
- резервуа́р (rezervuár)place where anything is kept in store
- схо́вище (sxóvyšče)place where anything is kept in store
- водосхо́вище (vodosxóvyšče)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- водо́йма (vodójma)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
- водо́ймище (vodójmyšče)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Urdu حَوض
- حَوض (hauz)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Vietnamese kho, hồ chứa nước
- khoplace where anything is kept in store
- hồ chứa nướclarge natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Welsh cronfa, cronfa (ddŵr)
- cronfaplace where anything is kept in store
- cronfa (ddŵr)large natural or artificial lake used as a source of water supply
Cite this entry
reservoir. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reservoir
“reservoir.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reservoir. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reservoir,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reservoir.
Source: reservoir on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.