water column
noun
plural water columns
1
: a vertical expanse of water stretching between the surface and the floor of a body of water
Shallow feeders, sea lions work the top 600 feet of the water column for hake, rock-fish, herring, sardines … and squid, but opportunistically capturing anything that happens by.—
Downs Matthews
Downs MatthewsOnly a few animals of the water column above would have died and settled into the sediments below during the short time when the mudslide was coalescing into a layer of sediment in the stagnant basin.—Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould2
: a vertical pipe with valves and spout for delivering water to a locomotive tender
Examples of water column in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The second, MiDAR, is an active multispectral sensing system that shoots multiple wavelengths of light through the water column to illuminate the otherwise dark ocean depths.
—
Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
3 July 2026
As warming waters pushed sardines and anchovies farther offshore or deeper in the water column, nursing mothers had to travel longer distances to find food, leaving pups onshore for extended periods.
—
Brandi D. Addison,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
Watching the models walk one after another alongside the monumental water columns created an incredibly powerful atmosphere.
—
Rhonda Richford,
Footwear News,
29 June 2026
The ship will also carry a 40-meter coring system for extracting deep-sea sediment samples, advanced oceanographic instrumentation, and fiber-rope lifting systems capable of operating across virtually the entire water column—from surface to seafloor.
—
Dea Jusufi,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for water column
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Mrigakshi Dixit,
Interesting Engineering,
3 July 2026
As warming waters pushed sardines and anchovies farther offshore or deeper in the water column, nursing mothers had to travel longer distances to find food, leaving pups onshore for extended periods.
—
Brandi D. Addison,
USA Today,
2 July 2026
Watching the models walk one after another alongside the monumental water columns created an incredibly powerful atmosphere.
—
Rhonda Richford,
Footwear News,
29 June 2026
The ship will also carry a 40-meter coring system for extracting deep-sea sediment samples, advanced oceanographic instrumentation, and fiber-rope lifting systems capable of operating across virtually the entire water column—from surface to seafloor.
—
Dea Jusufi,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for water column
Cite this Entry
“Water column.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/water%20column. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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