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Lagoon - 5 dictionary results

la⋅goon

  [luh-goon]
Use Lagoon in a Sentence
–noun
1. an area of shallow water separated from the sea by low sandy dunes. Compare laguna.
2. Also, lagune. any small, pondlike body of water, esp. one connected with a larger body of water.
3. an artificial pool for storage and treatment of polluted or excessively hot sewage, industrial waste, etc.
Origin:
1605–15; earlier laguna (sing.), lagune (pl.) < It < L lacūna (sing.), lacūnae (pl.) ditch, pool, akin to lacus basin, lake 1 ; see lacuna

Related forms:
la⋅goon⋅al, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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la·goon   (lə-gōōn')   
n.  
  1. A shallow body of water, especially one separated from a sea by sandbars or coral reefs.
  2. A shallow body of liquid waste material, as one in a dump.

[French lagune and Italian laguna, both from Latin lacūna, pool, hollow, gap, from lacus, lake.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Lagoon

La*goon"\, n. [It. or Sp. laguna, L. lacuna ditch, pool, pond, lacus lake. See Lake, and cf. Lacuna.] [Written also lagune.]

1. A shallow sound, channel, pond, or lake, especially one into which the sea flows; as, the lagoons of Venice.

2. A lake in a coral island, often occupying a large portion of its area, and usually communicating with the sea. See Atoll.

Lagoon island, a coral island consisting of a narrow reef encircling a lagoon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Lagoon
Spanish: laguna,
German: die Lagune,
Japanese: 潟
More Translations »

lagoon 
1612, from Fr. lagune, from It. laguna "pond, lake," from L. lacuna "pond, hole," from lacus "pond" (see lake). Originally in ref. to the region of Venice; applied 1769 to the lake-like stretch of water enclosed in a South Seas atoll.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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lagoon   (lə-gn')  Pronunciation Key 
  1. A shallow body of salt water close to the sea but separated from it by a narrow strip of land, such as a barrier island, or by a coral reef.
  2. A shallow pond or lake close to a larger lake or river but separated from it by a barrier such as a levee.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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