Meanings
- not comparableOf or pertaining to water beneath the surface of the earth which is located above the level of the permanent groundwater.
Research has shown bone apatite to undergo chemical exchange with carbonates in either vadose water or groundwater.
2003, B. B. Huckell, C. Vance Haynes, “The Ventana Complex: New Dates and New Ideas on Its Place in Early Holocene Western Prehistory”, in American Antiquity, volume 68, number 2, page 3571 more example
The seep lay high up among the ledges, vadose water dripping down the slick black rock and monkeyflower and deathcamas hanging in a small perilous garden. The water that reached the canyon floor was no more than a trickle and they leaned by turns with pursed lips to the stone like devouts at a shrine.
1985, Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian, page 60
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*weh₂dʰ-
- Proto-Indo-European*wh₂dʰóm
- Proto-Italic*waðom
- Latinvadum
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ed-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃édosder.?
- Latinvadosus
- Englishvadose
Borrowed from Latin vadosus.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
vadose. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vadose
“vadose.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vadose. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vadose,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vadose.
Source: vadose on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.