Standard Lemma guide

floodplain

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈflʌdˌpleɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F L AH1 D P L EY2 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A low-lying plain adjacent to a river subject to flooding during periods of high rainfall or at high tide.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: geography, natural-sciences

Examples

  • Near-synonyms: bottomland, bottomlands
  • tidal floodplain

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alluvial plain, bottomland, bottomlands

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a low plain adjacent to a river that is formed chiefly of river sediment and is subject to flooding

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: flood plain

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: plain, field, champaign

History

Etymology

From flood + plain.

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: plana d'inundació — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Chinese Mandarin: 河漫灘 /河漫滩 (hémàntān) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Cornish: fennva — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Danish: flodslette — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Dutch: uiterwaard — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Finnish: tulvatasanko — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • French: lit majeur — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Galician: varcia — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Georgian: ჭალა (č̣ala) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • German: Flussaue — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • German: Aue — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • German: Au — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • German: Überschemmungsgebiet — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Hebrew: מִישׁוֹר הֲצָפָה (mishór hatsafá) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Hungarian: ártér — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Indonesian: dataran banjir — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Italian: golena — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Japanese: はんらん源 (hanrangen) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Komi-Zyrian: адз (adź) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Korean: 범람원 (beomlam-won) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Malayalam: ജലോഢ സമതലം (jalōḍha samatalaṁ) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Norwegian Bokmål: flomslette — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Persian: دشت سیلابی (dašt-e seylâbi) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Polish: terasa zalewowa — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Polish: równina zalewowa — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Polish: taras zalewowy — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Polish: obszar zalewowy — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Portuguese: várzea — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Portuguese: vargem — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Romanian: luncă — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Russian: по́йма (pójma) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Spanish: terreno inundable — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Spanish: llanura aluvial inundable — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Spanish: vega inundable — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Tagalog: bahaing kapatagan — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Ukrainian: запла́ва (zapláva) — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Uzbek: qayir — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Vietnamese: bãi bồi — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
  • Welsh: gorlifdir — a plain formed by the deposition of flooding
Real reading context

floodplain in complete knowledge articles