How to Use high-water in a Sentence

high-water

1 of 2 adjective
  • And that’s the high-water mark.
    — Sean Keeler, Denver Post, 30 Aug. 2025
  • Week 13 might be their high-water mark.
    — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 5 Dec. 2025
  • Both are his high-water marks for the season.
    — Jerry McDonald, Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2025
  • There were a few strong shifts after that, but that was the high-water mark.
    — Corey Masisak, The Denver Post, 14 Oct. 2024
  • Scream remains a high-water mark of teen horror.
    — Declan Gallagher, Entertainment Weekly, 9 June 2026
  • This may be renewables’ high-water mark.
    — Peter Murphy, Hartford Courant, 18 Aug. 2025
  • But that win will also be the high-water mark for Canada in front of home fans.
    — Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 25 June 2026
  • Many fans feel Close to the Edge is the high-water mark off the entire prog era.
    — Andy Greene, Rolling Stone, 19 Feb. 2025
  • That was the high-water mark for defeats in the Self era until this season.
    — Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 21 Mar. 2025
  • The war may have been a high-water mark of journalism, but the channel was narrow.
    — Literary Hub, 19 Dec. 2025
  • But that performance now seems more like a high-water mark than a foundation on which to build.
    — Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 7 Dec. 2023
  • This could be the high-water mark of the Supreme Court’s resistance.
    — Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2025
  • The Estrela de Fura could well eclipse those high-water marks, though.
    — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 5 Apr. 2023
  • On Monday evening, parts of the town faced a high-water alert because of heavy rainfall.
    — Ian Livingston, Washington Post, 20 June 2023
  • Whether that confidence reads, in time, as foresight or as a high-water mark is the part no term sheet can settle.
    — Dara-Abasi Ita, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
  • Swift is also setting a high-water mark for prices — in a year marked by concert inflation.
    — Lucas Shaw, Fortune, 30 June 2023
  • Even so, the high-water mark hit the third floor levels, and the risk of a repeat is significant.
    — Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 18 July 2025
  • The department said floods and high-water events are likely because of the wildfire burn scars in the area.
    — Shannon Tyler, Idaho Statesman, 30 Sep. 2025
  • That golden light within started the high-water mark for the visuals.
    — Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 14 Feb. 2024
  • The latter was this rivalry’s high-water mark for tension and tumult.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 16 Oct. 2025
  • Khaled’s paean may be the high-water mark of the bidet’s profile in American pop culture — so far.
    — Michael J. Coren, Anchorage Daily News, 5 Apr. 2023
  • The showmanship of this sequence is a high-water mark for stylish violence in the series so far.
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 5 Dec. 2024
  • That year, the company sold 17 cars, a new high-water mark for production.
    — Bob Sorokanich, Robb Report, 23 July 2024
  • In six of the past nine seasons, the league has set a new high-water mark for offensive efficiency.
    — Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 14 Nov. 2025
  • The term is pure slang, coined in America in the nineteen-twenties, a high-water decade for crimes of all kinds.
    — Kathryn Schulz, The New Yorker, 19 June 2023
  • In many ways, that trip to California would be the high-water mark for the phone carrier.
    — Daniele Lepido, Fortune, 17 July 2023
  • That flooding has been taken as the high-water mark and not seen since, though smaller-scale events have been recorded in recent years.
    — Angus Watson, CNN Money, 25 June 2025
  • The McKeen Brook Pool is one of the best high-water pools.
    — Ralph Tuttle, Outdoor Life, 25 June 2026
  • In Week 13, the offense — and team as a whole — hit its high-water mark in Cincinnati.
    — Mike Defabo, The Athletic, 9 Jan. 2025
  • Included in the protection would be the river or stream channel, up to the high-water mark, as well as the stream beds.
    — Karl Schneider, The Indianapolis Star, 5 Sep. 2023

high water

2 of 2 noun
  • The high water closed roads in the area.
    — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 28 Apr. 2026
  • There should be some big fish that came through with the high water the first of the week.
    — Ralph Tuttle, Outdoor Life, 25 June 2026
  • To his left was a waist-high water pipe, its coals burning low.
    — New York Times, 11 May 2018
  • Doors to the campers cannot be opened due to high water, the county said.
    — Steve Almasy, CNN, 12 Nov. 2020
  • In a short time the gates were raised and the risk of high water was averted.
    — Fox News, 3 Oct. 2020
  • Her nephew and son-in-law rushed out into chest-high water to save them.
    — Dallas Morning News, 22 Mar. 2026
  • Some investors prefer to buy and hold come hell or high water.
    — Ben Carlson, Fortune, 29 Apr. 2021
  • Find out what your authentic self is and be that, come hell or high water.
    — Angie Martoccio, Rolling Stone, 26 Nov. 2021
  • Visitors had to wade in waist-high water to get from the boat to the beach.
    — Richard Quest and Lilit Marcus, CNN, 16 May 2021
  • Land below the mean high water line — where the sand gets wet — is public.
    — Elizabeth Koh, miamiherald, 29 June 2018
  • The field, rather than lush with shin-high water, crunched underfoot.
    — Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, 22 July 2022
  • The legal process will play out and my side of the story will be told, hell or high water.
    — Marcus K. Dowling, The Tennessean, 30 Oct. 2024
  • All were fine and the area is clear, but people are advised to not drive through high water.
    — The Enquirer, 20 May 2022
  • Some drivers in the city became stuck in high water on the roadways.
    — Aya Elamroussi, CNN, 4 Oct. 2022
  • But the search had to be suspended again because of high water.
    — Tassanee Vejpongsa, The Seattle Times, 26 June 2018
  • The fire department said motorists were trapped on the road amid high waters.
    — Olivia Diaz, Washington Post, 15 Aug. 2023
  • Few fish were in sight; perhaps the high water had delayed their arrival.
    — Chris Santella, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2022
  • This is a pattern that’s good on Smith anytime there is high water in spring.
    — Frank Sargeant, al, 18 Mar. 2020
  • The store was built in 1831 so it's seen plenty of high water.
    — Sarah Brookbank, Cincinnati.com, 23 Feb. 2018
  • There’s also a lily-pad walk along the water and two, four-story high water slides.
    — Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 24 June 2024
  • Potatoes have a high water content.
    — Brittany Lubeck, Verywell Health, 9 June 2026
  • Low water levels give way to high water levels.
    — Big Think, 29 Oct. 2025
  • As predicted, and feared, the waves were small, breaking near shore in waist-high water.
    — New York Times, 20 July 2021
  • The high water content in the body is necessary to address all our needs.
    — Bryant Stamford, The Courier-Journal, 13 Jan. 2023
  • In high water, focus on areas tight to the bank where the current is blocked or softer.
    — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 7 Mar. 2024
  • Some of the nests may have gotten washed out, or the female may have had to leave the eggs because of high water.
    — Matt Williams, Dallas News, 19 June 2021
  • Peggy managed to slide open the window and climbed into the cold chest-high water.
    — Janine Zeitlin, USA TODAY, 8 Oct. 2022
  • To kick off the new year, Louisville residents will pay a higher water bill.
    — Ben Tobin, The Courier-Journal, 2 Jan. 2020
  • Half of the trip takes him through thigh-high water in a patchy forest where clusters of trees have already been chopped.
    — New York Times, 13 July 2022
  • The Brittons said they were used to high water levels in the river at this time of year.
    — Claire Colbert, CNN, 17 June 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'high-water.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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