water table

noun

1
: a stringcourse or similar member when projecting so as to throw off water
2
: the upper limit of the portion of the ground wholly saturated with water

Examples of water table in a Sentence

Heavy rainfall has caused the water table to rise.
Recent Examples on the Web Even modest falls in water tables in the continent’s many shallow aquifers could dry up wells that sustain many of the 255 million people living in poverty above them, warns the World Bank. Fred Pearce, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2024 Locals fear their wells could fail if pumping increases The project has alarmed locals who have watched the water table drop in recent years from existing residential and agricultural pumping. Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 5 Feb. 2024 But despite their low profile, mosses, which Kimmerer has compared to forests in miniature, complete with canopies of single-cell-thick leaves and diverse populations of microscopic organisms, play an outsize role in our ecosystem, regulating water tables and soil temperature. Jenny Comita, New York Times, 21 Nov. 2023 By 2018, so much water had infiltrated the soil around Tigray’s Green Roads that the water table had risen around two meters, improving the productivity of adjacent farms by 35 percent. WIRED, 23 Dec. 2023 The lack of rain combined with the summer’s extreme heat dried out wetlands and reduced the water table’s depth, the city said. Mary Gilbert, CNN, 23 Oct. 2023 But Take Note: The water table has only one drain plug, and the mailbox is lacking a back. Ashley Ziegler, Parents, 16 Oct. 2023 The tipping point for groundwater occurs when existing wells are not sufficient to reach the water table and access to groundwater becomes prohibitively expensive or problematic, the report says. Hayley Smith, Los Angeles Times, 26 Oct. 2023 With this playhouse, your tot gets a kitchen, mailbox, workbench, and a sand and water table combo. Ashley Ziegler, Parents, 16 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'water table.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of water table was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near water table

Cite this Entry

“Water table.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/water%20table. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

water table

noun
: the upper limit of the portion of the ground completely soaked with water

More from Merriam-Webster on water table

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