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retention basin

noun

Simple meaning

A depression in the ground containing a permanent pool of water that is replenished by rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding or erosion.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

reetehnshuhnbaysuhn

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ɹiˈtɛnʃənbeɪsən

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. hydrologysoil science

    A depression in the ground containing a permanent pool of water that is replenished by rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding or erosion, which releases the water at a slow rate into the ground or other nearby water bodies.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: (hydrology, soil science) A depression in the ground containing a permanent pool of water that is replenished by rainwater which would otherwise cause flooding or erosion, which releases the water at a slow rate into the ground or other nearby water bodies.

Used this way, retention basin is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in science contexts.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Science

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.