marsh

[ mahrsh ]
See synonyms for marsh on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a tract of low wet land, often treeless and periodically inundated, generally characterized by a growth of grasses, sedges, cattails, and rushes.

Origin of marsh

1
before 900; Middle English mershe,Old English mer(i)sc (cognate with German Marsch). See mere2, -ish1; cf. marais, marish, morass

Other words for marsh

Other words from marsh

  • marshlike, adjective

Other definitions for Marsh (2 of 2)

Marsh
[ mahrsh ]

noun
  1. Dame (Edith) Ngai·o [nahy-oh], /ˈnaɪ oʊ/, 1899–1982, New Zealand writer of detective novels.

  2. Reginald, 1898–1954, U.S. painter and illustrator.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use marsh in a sentence

  • But the stork was cruel and would not heed him, and led Cedric a weary chase through the marshes and the brakes.

    Love's Pilgrimage | Upton Sinclair
  • Over the bogs and through the marshes, the madness of despair within him, he heeded not the deep ditches and the bog-pools.

    The Underworld | James C. Welsh
  • We raced our lorry through country looking just like the Romney Marshes, Sussex.

British Dictionary definitions for marsh (1 of 2)

marsh

/ (mɑːʃ) /


noun
  1. low poorly drained land that is sometimes flooded and often lies at the edge of lakes, streams, etc: Compare swamp (def. 1) Related adjective: paludal

Origin of marsh

1
Old English merisc; related to German Marsch, Dutch marsk; related to mere ²

Derived forms of marsh

  • marshlike, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for Marsh (2 of 2)

Marsh

/ (mɑːʃ) /


noun
  1. Dame (Edith) Ngaio (ˈnaɪəʊ). 1899–1981, New Zealand crime writer, living in Britain (from 1928). Her many detective novels include Final Curtain (1947) and Last Ditch (1977)

  2. Rodney (William). born 1947, Australian cricketer: a wicketkeeper, he took 355 dismissals in 96 test matches (1970–84)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for marsh

marsh

[ märsh ]


  1. An area of low-lying wetland in which the level of water is generally shallow and often fluctuating. The water may be either standing or slow-moving. The water in a marsh is also more or less neutral or alkaline, in contrast to the water in a bog, which is acidic. The environment of a marsh is in general well-oxygenated and nutrient-rich and allows a great variety of organisms to flourish. In contrast to a swamp, in which there is an abundance of woody plants, the plants in a marsh are mostly herbaceous. Reeds and rushes dominate the vegetation of marshes. See also salt marsh.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.