What does "lake" mean?
A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
Lake
/leɪk/ name, noun, verb
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
- Grammar: lake is listed as name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: aquatic body, avernus, cistern, color.
- Useful contrasts: boyne, dry land, murray.
- Usage evidence: At the foot of the hill is a beautiful lake.
How to use "lake"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lake" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lake" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lake" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lake" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lake" is acting as name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "aquatic body" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lake", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
"Judge Short had gone to town, and Farrar was off for a three days' cruise up the lake. I was bitterly regretting I had not gone with him when the distant notes of a coach horn reached my ear, and I descried a four-in-hand winding its way up the inn road from the direction of Mohair."
- 2 An offering, sacrifice, gift. obsolete
- 3 A kind of fine, white linen. obsolete
- 4 In dyeing and painting, an often fugitive crimson or vermilion pigment derived from an organic colorant (cochineal or madder, for example) and an inorganic, generally metallic mordant. countable, uncountable
"The colour scheme of the North British Railway—dark gamboge for the engines and lake for the coaches—looked very smart when new and clean, but these shades did not possess good wearing qualities."
- 5 a body of (usually fresh) water surrounded by land wordnet
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 A large amount of liquid.
"a lake of wine"
- 7 Play; sport; game; fun; glee. dialectal
- 8 In the composition of colors for use in products intended for human consumption, made by extending on a substratum of alumina, a salt prepared from one of the certified water-soluble straight colors. countable, uncountable
"The name of a lake prepared by extending the aluminum salt prepared from FD&C Blue No. 1 upon the substratum would be FD&C Blue No. 1--Aluminum Lake."
- 9 any of numerous bright translucent organic pigments wordnet
- 10 A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain. dialectal
- 11 a purplish red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal wordnet
- 12 A pit, or ditch. obsolete
Verb
- 1 To present an offering. obsolete
- 2 To make lake-red.
- 3 To leap, jump, exert oneself, play. Northern, UK, dialectal
- 4 To subject biological cells to repeated cycles of freezing and thawing until lysis.
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname. countable, uncountable
- 2 A unisex given name. countable, uncountable
"Lake Bell, Lake Chambers Speed"
- 3 A placename:; A place in England:; A large village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight (OS grid ref SZ5983). countable, uncountable
- 4 A placename:; A place in England:; A settlement in Wilsford cum Lake parish, Wiltshire (OS grid ref SU1339). countable, uncountable
- 5 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Fremont County, Idaho. countable, uncountable
Show 12 more definitions
- 6 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Laurel County, Kentucky. countable, uncountable
- 7 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. countable, uncountable
- 8 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland. countable, uncountable
- 9 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Garfield Township, Clare County, Michigan. countable, uncountable
- 10 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; A town in Newton County and Scott County, Mississippi. countable, uncountable
- 11 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. countable, uncountable
- 12 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Northumberland County, Virginia. countable, uncountable
- 13 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; An unincorporated community in Logan County, West Virginia. countable, uncountable
- 14 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; A town in Marinette County, Wisconsin. countable, uncountable
- 15 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; A former town in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, annexed by the city of Milwaukee in 1954. countable, uncountable
- 16 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; A town in Price County, Wisconsin. countable, uncountable
- 17 A placename:; A number of places in the United States:; A number of townships, listed under Lake Township. countable, uncountable
Example
"At the foot of the hill is a beautiful lake."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lake"?
Common synonyms include: aquatic body, avernus, cistern, color, dam, dike.
How do you use "lake" in a sentence?
At the foot of the hill is a beautiful lake.
How do you pronounce "lake"?
Pronounced /leɪk/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Arose from a conflation of * Middle English lake (“small stream of running water, pool, lake”), from Old English lacu (“stream, pool, pond, lake”), from Proto-West Germanic *laku, from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, body of water", originally "a place where water runs off and collects”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”); with * Middle English lac (“lake”), from Old French lac (“lake, ditch, pit”), a borrowed term, likely from Latin lacus (“lake, tub, vat”) (see Old French lac for more). The first element is related to Dutch laak (“stream, drainage ditch, pond”), German Low German Lake, Laak (“drainage, marshland”), German Lache (“puddle, pool”), Norwegian løk (“a deep, slow-moving stream; a widening in a stream or river”), Faroese løkur (“small brook”) and lækja (“water hole, well, watershoot in a brook”), Icelandic lækur (“stream”). Despite their similarity in form and meaning, Old English lacu is not related to English lay (“lake”), Latin lacus (“hollow, lake, pond”), Scottish Gaelic loch (“lake”), Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “waterhole, tank, pond, pit”), all from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (“lake, pool”).
Etymology 2
From Northern Middle English lake, lak, lac (also laik, layke; Southern loke), from Old English lāc (“play, sport, strife, battle, sacrifice, offering, gift, present, booty, message”), from Proto-West Germanic *laik, from Proto-Germanic *laikaz (“game, dance, hymn, sport”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to bounce, shake, tremble”). Cognate with Old High German leih (“song, melody, music”), Old Norse leikr (whence Danish leg (“game”), Swedish leka (“to play”)), and Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌹𐌺𐍃 (laiks, “dance”). Doublet of lek. Verb form partly from Middle English laken, from Old English lacan, from Proto-Germanic *laikaną, from Proto-Indo-European *leyg-. More at lay, -lock.
Etymology 3
From Middle English lake, from Old English *lacen or Middle Dutch laken; both from Proto-Germanic *lakaną (“linen; cloth; sheet”). Cognate with Dutch lake (“linen”), Dutch laken (“linen; bedsheet”), German Laken, Danish lagan, Swedish lakan, Icelandic lak, lakan.
Etymology 4
From French laque (“lacquer”), from Persian لاک (lâk), from Hindi लाख (lākh), from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Doublet of lac and lacquer.
Etymology 5
Derived from the noun lake.