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Synonyms

sandbank

American  
[sand-bangk] / ˈsændˌbæŋk /
Or sand bank

noun

  1. a large mass of sand, as on a shoal or hillside.

sandbank British  
/ ˈsændˌbæŋk /

noun

  1. a submerged bank of sand in a sea or river, that may be exposed at low tide

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sandbank

First recorded in 1580–90; sand + bank 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Oh yes, they were the masters of that trade! They’d travel the river and the creeks, set up camp on sandbanks from village to village, harvest all the clams they could find, and move on.”

From Literature

A rusting cargo ship now lies stranded on a sandbank in the blue lagoon, where only a handful of fishing boats float around.

From Barron's

The 344 huts on the sandbank near Christchurch can only be used overnight for part of the year but can sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

From BBC

The stricken vessel was later found on a sandbank.

From Barron's

The boat overturned on Wednesday midnight near Jinack village in the North Bank Region and it was later found "grounded on a sandbank", the country's defence ministry said in a statement.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.