What does "sluice" mean?
An artificial passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, for example in a canal lock or a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow.
Sluice
/sluːs/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: An artificial passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, for example in a canal lock or a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow.
- Grammar: sluice is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: aboideau, air lock, aqueduct, arroyo.
- Useful contrasts: barrier, block, dam.
- Usage evidence: The dam's sluice gate broke and the water flooded several nearby towns.
How to use "sluice"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "sluice" 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 "sluice" 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 "sluice" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "sluice" 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 "sluice" is acting as 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 "aboideau" 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 "sluice", 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 An artificial passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, for example in a canal lock or a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow.
- 2 conduit that carries a rapid flow of water controlled by a sluicegate wordnet
- 3 A water gate or floodgate.
- 4 Hence, an opening or channel through which anything flows; a source of supply.
"At leaſt, I'm ſure I can fiſh it out of her. She's the very Sluce to her Lady's Secrets;—'Tis but ſetting her Mill agoing, and I can drein her of 'em all."
- 5 The stream flowing through a floodgate.
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A long box or trough through which water flows, used for washing auriferous earth.
- 7 An instance of wh-stranding ellipsis, or sluicing.
Verb
- 1 To emit by, or as by, flood gates. rare, transitive
"Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, / That underneath had veins of liquid fire / Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude / With wondrous art founded the massy ore, / Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross."
- 2 irrigate with water from a sluice wordnet
- 3 To wet copiously, as by opening a sluice transitive
"Nine - mile Creek has been dug out again and again , and has been sluiced three times"
- 4 draw through a sluice wordnet
- 5 To wash with, or in, a stream of water running through a sluice. transitive
"to sluice earth or gold dust in a sluice box in placer mining"
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 transport in or send down a sluice wordnet
- 7 To wash (down or out). broadly, transitive
"[…] he did plot the Duke of Gloucester's death, / Suggest his soon-believing adversaries, / And consequently, like a traitor coward, / Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood"
- 8 pour as if from a sluice wordnet
- 9 To flow, pour. intransitive
"In the trough behind the white wave / Helen shook her dark head, the water sluiced from her shoulders / And rose-tipped breasts."
- 10 To elide the complement in a coordinated wh-question. See sluicing.
Example
"The dam's sluice gate broke and the water flooded several nearby towns."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "sluice"?
Common synonyms include: aboideau, air lock, aqueduct, arroyo, avenue, baptize.
How do you use "sluice" in a sentence?
The dam's sluice gate broke and the water flooded several nearby towns.
How do you pronounce "sluice"?
Pronounced /sluːs/.
Etymology
From Middle English sluse, alteration of scluse, from Anglo-Norman escluse (“sluice, floodgate”), from Late Latin exclusa (“extrusion, gate”), from Latin exclūsus, form of exclūdō (“I shut out, I exclude”) (English exclude). Cognate to Dutch sluis.