Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A branch of a river that flows away from the main stream.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Distributing; distributive; designed for distribution.
  • noun In physical geography, an outflowing branch of a river, such as occurs characteristically on a delta.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Tending to distribute or be distributed; that distributes; distributive.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun hydrology A branch of a river delta; a channel that distributes a river's waters into the sea, as with the Atchafalaya River of the Mississippi.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a branch of a river that flows away from the main stream and does not rejoin it

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

dis- + tribute + -ary

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word distributary.

Examples

  • Muddy floodwaters rise and spread over deltaic wetlands from main and so-called distributary channels, transporting mass and energy laterally across the delta, in essence nourishing the landscape.

    Web Edition | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2009

  • Muddy floodwaters rise and spread over deltaic wetlands from main and so-called distributary channels, transporting mass and energy laterally across the delta, in essence nourishing the landscape.

    Web Edition | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2009

  • Currently, it has sought to divert more of its flow to the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, into the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp in the United States.

    Archive 2010-08-01 Olga Bonfiglio 2010

  • Currently, it has sought to divert more of its flow to the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, into the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp in the United States.

    Hurricane Katrina: The Fate of New Orleans Hangs in an Uncomfortable Balance with Mother Nature Olga Bonfiglio 2010

  • Currently, it has sought to divert more of its flow to the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, into the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp in the United States.

    Hurricane Katrina: The Fate of New Orleans Hangs in an Uncomfortable Balance with Mother Nature Olga Bonfiglio 2010

  • Currently, it has sought to divert more of its flow to the Atchafalaya River, a distributary of the Mississippi and Red Rivers, into the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest swamp in the United States.

    Archive 2010-08-01 Olga Bonfiglio 2010

  • The distributary channels and alluvial fans at the mouths of the Flinders, Mitchell, Gilbert, Leichardt, McArthur, and Roper Rivers have extended the seaward edge of the plains.

    Carpentaria tropical savanna 2008

  • Although the Niger presents a zoogeographic barrier to some degree, the situation in reality is far more complex since the narrower distributary delta channels allow species to move from one side of the Niger River to the other.

    Niger Delta swamp forests 2008

  • The Sanctuary is in the basin of the brackish Djoudj bayou (distributary or marigot) between the main river channel to the north and the Gorom bayou to the south.

    Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary, Senegal 2008

  • The reductions in sediment discharge, as a consequence of damming, have caused a major retreat of the (formerly prograding) distributary mouths at Damietta and Rosetta where coastal defences have been installed in an attempt to arrest the retreat.

    Northern Africa and coastal and marine environments 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.