ravines

noun

plural of ravine
as in canyons
a narrow opening between hillsides or mountains that can be used for passage he urged his horse down into the ravine where there was a thin stream of water flowing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ravines The area has deep ravines and dense vegetation. — Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 6 Feb. 2026 The reserve features high, broken cliffs and deep ravines on headlands overlooking the ocean. — Kurt Snibbe, Oc Register, 24 Apr. 2026 She was found hours later, barely alive and with a fractured skull, having been brutally raped and left for dead in one of the park’s ravines. — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Apr. 2026 Low fence markers can be seen outlining the building zone along Route 2, which slopes along open land, wooded patches and some ravines. — Anna Ortiz, Chicago Tribune, 31 Jan. 2026 The gardens were developed in the 1930s on a site featuring natural ravines, now crossed by suspension bridges and laced with trails. — Elizabeth Rhodes, Travel + Leisure, 23 June 2026 The manhunt has so far been contained to Stewart County, where search crews are up against an immediate terrain of steep hills with deep ravines or hollows, the sheriff said. — Emma Tucker, CNN Money, 6 May 2026 The face of the moon never looks the same from one night to the next, as the shifting angle between the moon and sun causes sunlight to sweep across its surface, altering the shadows cast by craters, mountain ranges and ravines. — Anthony Wood, Space.com, 23 May 2026 Madeira’s cliffs and ravines are difficult enough that many walking holidays there are guided and focused on one part of the island, including the eight-mile forest hike through Ribeiro Frio. — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 11 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ravines
  1. canyons
  2. gorges
  3. valleys
Noun
  • Known for its famous slot canyons, Zion is ideal for hiking and canyoneering—though that doesn’t mean the less athletic traveler will come up short on things to do.
    — Josh Laskin, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2026
  • From the layer-cake buttes of Badlands National Park to the winding canyons of the Black Hills, this part of South Dakota is legendary.
    — Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 July 2026
Definition of canyons
Noun
  • From here the route winds south past the town of Telluride, with its legendary skiing and film, jazz and bluegrass festivals, and out to Mesa Verde National Park, where Puebloan people carved gorgeous cliff dwellings in the buttes and gorges.
    — Condé Nast Traveler, Condé Nast Traveler, 2 July 2026
  • With peaks up to 1,531 metres and cut through by deep gorges, these mountains are wild and spectacular, said Oliver Smith in the Financial Times.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 14 June 2026
Definition of gorges
Noun
  • Known for the plumes of fog that build up in the valleys between the mountains—settling like smoke over the peaks—the Smokies are teeming with plant and animal life as well as Southern culture.
    — Josh Laskin, Travel + Leisure, 3 July 2026
  • More than 160 years earlier, Galileo's telescopic observations had revealed mountains, valleys, and craters on the lunar surface, overturning the ancient notion that heavenly bodies were perfect spheres.
    — Stefanie Waldek, Space.com, 2 July 2026
Definition of valleys

Browse Nearby Words

ravine
ravines
raving
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Cite this Entry

“Ravines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ravines. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on ravines

Nglish: Translation of ravines for Spanish Speakers

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