Spillway

noun

noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A path designed to take away overflow safely.

    "Absence of filtered undrains beneath spillways or behind walls."

  2. 2
    a channel that carries excess water over or around a dam or other obstruction wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aqueductarroyobedcanalcreek bedculvert

Example

More examples

"The dam design includes an emergency spillway weir, to handle flood flows without risking erosion on the rest of the embankment."

Etymology

From spill + way.

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