canyon
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A deep, narrow valley with steep sides, often with a river at the bottom.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kanyuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkænjən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A valley, especially a long, narrow, steep valley, cut in rock by a river.
A ghost town in Whitman County, Washington, United States.
verb
intransitive
Of water, liquid, or another substance, to flow in or into a canyon.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A valley, especially a long, narrow, steep valley, cut in rock by a river.
Used this way, canyon is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Medium-sized evergreen of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico with oblong leathery often spiny-edged leaves.
Medium-sized evergreen of southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico with oblong leathery often spiny-edged leaves.
A small chiefly ground dweller that stays within easy jumping distance of water.
A tributary of the Grand Canyon.
A large dam built in 1964 on the Colorado River in Arizona.
The enormous gorge of the Colorado River in northern Arizona.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A national park in Utah having rock formations and ancient cliff dwellings.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
- waterfallnoun
- mesanoun
- hikingnoun
- lagunanoun
- confluencenoun
- yellowstonenoun
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: valley or especially a long or narrow
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