rill

noun

ˈril How to pronounce rill (audio)
Definition of rillnext
as in brook
a natural body of running water smaller than a river there are a few tiny fish in the rill

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 rill Those residents might also like to see the name of Indian Creek, another rill which traverses the county, given a new designation. — Charles Selle, Chicago Tribune, 30 Mar. 2026 His verses evoke sacred rivers, fertile grounds and gardens bright with sinuous rills—a lyrical world beyond the inauspicious reality of its start-point. — Natalie Hoberman, Forbes, 22 Feb. 2025 These rills form as the desiccating winds of the Sahara blow tiny bits of sand across the rock. — Bethany Brookshire, Scientific American, 27 June 2024 Now a little rill of wavelets across the surface of the flood was the only thing that marked the river’s usual borders. — Brooke Jarvis, New York Times, 31 May 2023 What had looked like a dense palm grove from above is actually a lush network of wheat, zucchini, mint, and tomato plots fed by a network of rills that carry water from a natural pool to the crops below. — Christopher Garis, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Jan. 2022 Over millions of years, the river and its tributaries have carved a fanlike rill of dramatic canyons out of the ancient sediments of the Mesa Verde tablelands, a maze of vertiginous stone walls. — Jeff Wise, Discover Magazine, 19 May 2010
Recent Examples of Synonyms for rill
  1. brook
  2. creek
Noun
  • Both Maxwell and the brook were headed to the same place, north to Lake Ontario.
    — James Whorton Jr, Longreads, 13 Oct. 2026
  • Was hearing Roland Hayes and, in time, other inspiring artists sing Schubert, Brahms, and Schumann songs like being beckoned by a musical brook to trust her instincts and follow its unlikely path?
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 10 Sep. 2026
Definition of brook
Noun
  • The trailhead was twenty minutes up a rutted jeep track, through a creek and a pine forest.
    — Nick Paumgarten, New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2026
  • The couple remembered going up and down the creek several times looking in the hopes of finding him when he was reported missing.
    — Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of creek

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Cite this Entry

“Rill.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/rill. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about rill

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