Canal Meaning
/kəˈnæl/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation.
nounA tubular channel within the body or within a plant.
Sentence Examples
A canal flowed between two rows of houses.
The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic with the Pacific.
The canal is open to shipping.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Boats move through locks to travel along the narrow ____ connecting two seas.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Panama ____ is an important shipping route between two oceans.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from Middle French canal, from Old French canal, from Latin canālis (“channel, canal, narrow passage”), from canna (“reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed”), from Akkadian 𒄀 (qanû, “reed”), from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na). Doublet of channel. See also cane and -al.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The fossilised jaw of T. trusleri has a huge canal running through it and that’s believed to have carried all the nerve and related tissue needed for the sense of electroception."
— 2022 March 29, Karen McGee, “Stunning breakthrough: the platypus and echidnas came from the South Pole”, in Australian Geographic:
"In the mangrove-type salt marsh, the entire marsh must be canaled or impounded."
— 1968, Louisiana State University, Proceedings, page 165:
"Near Rotterdam we canalled by Delfthaven."
— 1905, William Yoast Morgan, A Journey of a Jayhawker, page 211:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
Boats move through locks to travel along the narrow ____ connecting two seas.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The Panama ____ is an important shipping route between two oceans.