watershed - Definitions from Dictionary.com

8 results for: watershed

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

wa·ter·shed

Audio Help [waw-ter-shed, wot-er-] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	Chiefly British. the ridge or crest line dividing two drainage areas; water parting; divide.

2.	the region or area drained by a river, stream, etc.; drainage area.

3.	Architecture. wash (def. 44).

4.	an important point of division or transition between two phases, conditions, etc.: The treaty to ban war in space may prove to be one of history's great watersheds.

–adjective

5.	constituting a watershed: a watershed area; a watershed case.

[Origin: 1795–1805; water + shed²

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
watershed

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

wa·ter·shed Audio Help (wô'tər-shěd', wŏt'ər-) Pronunciation Key
n.

A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. Also called water parting.
The region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.
A critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point: "a watershed in modern American history, a time that ... forever changed American social attitudes" (Robert Reinhold).

[Probably translation of German Wasserscheide : Wasser, water + Scheide, divide, parting.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
watershed

"line separating waters flowing into different rivers," 1803, from water + shed. A loan-translation of Ger. Wasser-scheide. Fig. sense is attested from 1878. Meaning "ground of a river system" is from 1878.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

watershed
noun
1.	a ridge of land that separates two adjacent river systems
2.	the entire geographical area drained by a river and its tributaries; an area characterized by all runoff being conveyed to the same outlet; "flood control in the Missouri basin" [syn: river basin]
3.	an event marking a unique or important historical change of course or one on which important developments depend; "the agreement was a watershed in the history of both nations" [syn: landmark]

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
ˈwatershed noun

an area of high land from which rivers flow in different directions into different basins

Arabic:	خَط تَقسيم المِياه
Chinese (Simplified):	分水岭
Chinese (Traditional):	分水嶺
Czech:	vodní předěl
Danish:	vandskel
Dutch:	waterscheiding
Estonian:	veelahe
Finnish:	vedenjakaja
French:	ligne de partage des eaux
German:	die Wasserscheide
Greek:	υδροκρίτης
Hungarian:	vízválasztó
Icelandic:	vatnaskil
Indonesian:	mata air
Italian:	spartiacque

Japanese:	分水界
Korean:	분수계, 분수령
Latvian:	ūdensšķirtne
Lithuanian:	vandenskyra
Norwegian:	vannskille
Polish:	dział wód
Portuguese (Brazil):	divisor de águas
Portuguese (Portugal):	bacia hidrográfica
Romanian:	cumpăna apelor
Russian:	водораздел
Slovak:	rozvodie, vodný predel
Slovenian:	razvodje
Spanish:	divisoria de las aguas, cuenca
Swedish:	vattendelare, avrinningsområde
Turkish:	su bölümü çizgisi

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

watershed Audio Help (wô'tər-shěd') Pronunciation Key

A continuous ridge of high ground forming a divide between two different drainage basins or river systems.
The region enclosed by such a divide and draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
watershed

A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. On one side of a watershed, rivers and streams flow in one direction; on the other side they flow in another direction. Also, the area drained by a water system.

Note: By extension, a “watershed” is a critical point that serves as a dividing line: “The parties reached a watershed in the contract negotiations.”

[Chapter:] Earth Sciences

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Watershed

Wa"ter*shed`\, n. [Cf. G. wasserscheide; wasser water + scheide a place where two things separate, fr. scheiden to separate.]

1. The whole region or extent of country which contributes to the supply of a river or lake.

2. The line of division between two adjacent rivers or lakes with respect to the flow of water by natural channels into them; the natural boundary of a basin.

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