FRESH WATER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does fresh water mean? 

• FRESH WATER (noun)
  The noun FRESH WATER has 1 sense:

1. water that is not salty

  Familiarity information: FRESH WATER used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FRESH WATER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Water that is not salty

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

fresh water; freshwater

Hypernyms ("fresh water" is a kind of...):

H2O; water (binary compound that occurs at room temperature as a clear colorless odorless tasteless liquid; freezes into ice below 0 degrees centigrade and boils above 100 degrees centigrade; widely used as a solvent)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fresh water"):

rain; rainwater (drops of fresh water that fall as precipitation from clouds)

condensate (a product of condensation)

Antonym:

saltwater (water containing salts)

 Context examples 

The world's rivers and fresh water systems are full of pollution from prescription and over-the-counter drugs and it is taking a toll on the environment and wildlife, experts say.

(Experts Warn Prescription, Over-the-Counter Drugs Polluting World's Rivers, VOA)

A stealthy glance now and then refreshed her like sips of fresh water after a dusty walk, for the sidelong peeps showed her several propitious omens.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Every drop of fresh water contains thousands of different organic molecules that have previously gone unnoticed.

(Climate change could double greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater ecosystems, University of Cambridge)

Today, the ice sheet covers 81% of Greenland and contains 8% of Earth's fresh water.

(New research shows an iceless Greenland may be in the future, National Science Foundation)

The study focuses on thermokarst lakes, which occur as permafrost thaws and creates surface depressions that fill with melted fresh water, converting what was previously frozen land into lakes.

(Certain Arctic lakes store more greenhouse gases than they release, NSF)

Vegetables and bread, when they indulged in such luxuries, and even fresh water, was to be procured from the mainland, which was about five miles distant.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

These viruses are common in fresh water, such as lakes and ponds, but weren’t thought to infect humans or animals.

(Algal Virus Infects, Affects Humans, NIH)

Jo Anne Val Tilburg of the University of California, Los Angeles disagreed with these findings: The existence of fresh water seeps near coastal ahu is well-known and was certainly important at European contact.

(Scientists report correlation between locations of Easter Island statues and water resources, Wikinews)

We sailed with a fair wind to the Cape of Good Hope, where we staid only to take in fresh water.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

According to the research team, half of all people worldwide are affected by limits on their water supply, while daily fresh water usage to flush the planet's roughly 1 billion toilets and flush urinals is upwards of 141 billion liters; which they note is several times larger than the total rate of water consumption for the continent of Africa.

(Materials scientists invent new coating for self-cleaning, water-efficient toilets, Wikinews)