basin
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basin¹
- /ˈbeɪsɪn/ UK, US
- /-ən/ UK, US
- [-n̩] UK, US
Sounds like besan · Rhymes with -eɪsən
Where it comes from
From Middle English basyn, from Old French bacin, from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (“wide bowl”).
noun basins · bason
-
A wide bowl for washing, sometimes affixed to a wall.
First, as you know, my house within the city
Is richly furnished with plate and gold,
Basins and ewers to lave her dainty hands;
Similar: sink
- A shallow bowl used for a single serving of a drink or liquidy food. […] Mr. John Knightley, ashamed of his ill-humour, was now all kindness and attention; and so particularly solicitous for the comfort of her father, as to seem—if not quite ready to join him in a basin of gruel—perfectly sensible of its being exceedingly wholesome […]
- A depression, natural or artificial, containing water. This shortly brought them to a bewitching spring, whose basin was incrusted with a frostwork of glittering crystals […]
- An area of land from which water drains into a common outlet; drainage basin. Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.
- A shallow depression in a rock formation, such as an area of down-folded rock that has accumulated a thick layer of sediments, or an area scooped out by water erosion.
- An enclosed or sheltered area of water where boats are moored, often equipped with piers, wharves, or docks. ‘Wondered if there was any chance of mooring my boat here. Basin’s pretty crowded.’ ‘Nope.’
verb basins · basining · basinning · basined · basinned
- To create a concavity or depression in. Then axial subsidence basined the surface of the dome.
- To serve as or become a basin. To what degree this stress field formed in response to eastward movement of the African plate, to northward movement of the African plate relative to Europe, to basinning of the shelf between the eastern Canaries and Africa, or to other causes is as yet unknown.
- To shelter or enclose in a basin. A moan as of distant wind or thunder portended something at hand, the approach of which, basinned as we were among high broken ridges, patchy-scrubbed heights, and penned in by a maze of steep-sided gullies or gorges — we had no chance of observing, until it cam down in hurricane strength.
Basin²
proper noun
- A census-designated place in Jefferson County, Montana.
- A town, the county seat of Big Horn County, Wyoming.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: trough, bowl, river basin, washbasin, bucket, pail, toilet, basket, cauldron, pen, mould, cistern, drainage, pool, pond, sink
Translations
Every language
noun wide bowl for washing
| Español | pileta, lavabo, lavamanos, jofaina, palangana |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 대야 daeya |
| 日本語 | 盥 tarai |
| 中文 | 洗滌槽 /洗涤槽 xǐdícáo |
| Kiswahili | karai, beseni |
| Português | bacia, pia |
| Français | cuvette, bassine, lavabo |
| Deutsch | Becken, Waschbecken |
| Italiano | lavandino, lavabo, bacinella, lavacro, lavello |
| Ελληνικά | νιπτήρας niptíras |
| Română | chiuvetă |
| Русский | таз taz, умыва́льник umyválʹnik |
| Tiếng Việt | chảo |
| العربية | طَشْت ṭašt |
| עברית | אַגָּן agán |
noun depression containing water
| עברית | אַגָּן agán |
|---|
noun area of land that drains into a common outlet
| Español | cuenca |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 盆地 bonchi, 流域 ryūiki |
| 中文 | 流域 liúyù |
| Português | bacia |
| Français | bassin |
| Deutsch | Einzugsgebiet, Einzugsbecken |
| Italiano | bacino, conca |
| Ελληνικά | λεκάνη απορροής lekáni aporroḯs |
| Русский | бассе́йн basséjn, резервуа́р rezervuár |
| Tiếng Việt | lưu vực |
| العربية | حوض ḥawḍ |
| עברית | אַגָּן agán |
Talk about this word "basin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/basin. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. basin. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/basin "basin." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/basin.Cite this
@misc{basin_2026,
title = {basin},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/basin},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
