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shoal2

Pronunciation: /ʃəʊl/
Translate shoal | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of shoal

noun

  • an area of shallow water: we clawed our way out from the Bahamian shoals into the deep waters of the Atlantic
  • a submerged sandbank visible at low water.
  • (usually shoals) a hidden danger or difficulty:he alone could safely guide them through Hollywood’s treacherous shoals

verb

[no object]
  • (of water) become shallower: the water shoals reasonably gently, and the swimming is safe

adjective

dialect or North American
  • (of water) shallow: crabs will move to shoaler water when the current changes

Derivatives

shoaly

adjective

Origin:

Old English sceald (adjective), of Germanic origin; related to shallow

shoal in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of shoal in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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