Standard Lemma guide

phreatic

adj · 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.

  • /fɹiˈæt.ɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to ground water; (volcanology) involving explosively rapid heating of ground water by magma.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: geography, geology, natural-sciences

Examples

  • 1979 [McGraw-Hill], Jacob Bear, Hydraulics of Groundwater, 2007, Dover, page 76, Both φ and q vary from point to point within a phreatic aquifer.
  • 1981, Peter W. Lipman, James G. Moore, Donald A. Swanson, Bulging of the North Flank Before the May 18 Eruption—Geodetic Data, Peter W. Lipman, Donal R. Mullineaux (editors), The 1980 Eruptions of Mount St. Helens, Washington, U.S. Geological Survey, page 143, These results contributed to assessments by USGS personnel in late April and early May that Mount St. Helens remained highly dangerous despite the seemingly mild small-scale phreatic eruptions that were then the most conspicuous activity.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

of or relating to ground water

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek stem of φρέαρ (phréar, “well, spring”).

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: freàtic — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Finnish: pohjavesi- — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Finnish: pohjaveden- — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Finnish: freaattinen — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • French: phréatique — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • German: phreatisch — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Italian: freatico — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Portuguese: freático — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Romanian: freatic — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Spanish: freático — Of, or pertaining to ground water
  • Chinese Mandarin: 潜水蒸气喷发 — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • French: éruption phréatique — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • German: phreatische Explosion — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • Japanese: 水蒸気爆発 (suijōki bakuhatsu) — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • Korean: 수증기 분화 (sujeunggi bunhwa) — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • Russian: фреатический взрыв (freatičeskij vzryv) — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material
  • Spanish: erupción freática — Eruption / explosion caused by contact between groundwater and high-temperature material