A Basin Can Be a Bowl or a Continent's Drainage
A basin is a bowl for water, or a huge area of land drained by one river system. Geography borrowed the shape and scaled it up.
A basin is a wide open bowl, and by extension any hollow that collects water. Geography took the metaphor to its limit: the Amazon basin, the area drained by that river and its tributaries, covers around seven million square kilometres — the same word as the bowl in a bathroom. A basin is defined by where the water goes, not by any visible edge.
- A bowl. *A washbasin.*
- A drainage area. *The Congo basin.*
- A dock or harbour area. *A marina basin.*
- A geological depression. *A sedimentary basin.*
- Watershed — the ridge dividing two basins. *The watershed line.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | basin | A stone basin. |
| Plural | basins | River basins. |
| Compound | washbasin | A cracked washbasin. |
| Related | basinful | A basinful of water. |
| Related | watershed | A watershed moment. |
- Fill the basin with warm water.The bowl.
- The Amazon basin spans several countries.Geography.
- The North Sea basin holds oil and gas.Geology.
Watershed means two things
- British — the ridge separating two drainage basins
- American — the drainage basin itself
- Figuratively — a turning point, from the idea of a dividing line
- In British broadcasting — the 9pm point before which adult content is not shown
- Basin avoids the ambiguity, which is why geographers prefer it
Old French *bacin*, from Late Latin *baccinum*, a water vessel, of uncertain origin. English has used it since the 1200s and the geographical sense from the 1800s.
What is a river basin?
The whole area of land whose rainfall drains into one river system. It is defined by topography, not by borders.
Does watershed mean the same in Britain and America?
No. In Britain it is the dividing ridge; in America it is the basin itself.