name, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A dry creek or streambed, a gulch which temporarily or seasonally fills and flows (after sufficient rain).

   "Near-synonyms: wadi, nahal"

2. 2
   a stream or brook wordnet
3. 3
   Any watercourse; any rivulet (whether it flows year-round or only seasonally).

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A surname from Spanish.

Synonyms

All synonyms

abyssaqueductbeckbedbournbranch

Example

More examples

"The cave is inaccessible during a flash flood because the arroyo turns into a raging river."

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish arroyo.

Related phrases

Ramos-Arroyo syndromearroyo willowdry creek

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.