water cycle

British

noun

Also called: hydrologic cycle. the circulation of the earth's water, in which water evaporates from the sea into the atmosphere, where it condenses and falls as rain or snow, returning to the sea by rivers or returning to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration

"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

water cycle Scientific

See hydrologic cycle

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.

Some climate models already account for isotopic processes, but no single model can perfectly capture the complexity of Earth's water cycle.

From Science Daily

They absorb and store CO2, support animals, fungi, and insects, hold soil in place, manage water cycles, and provide people with vital resources such as wood, food, and cooling shade during hot weather.

From Science Daily

These problems are compounded by climate change, which is upending the water cycle and bringing more severe droughts and floods.

From Los Angeles Times

Rainfall moves slowly through the water cycle, needing to soak deep through the soil and way down into the groundwater stores.

From BBC

“The rapid water cycle change that the planet has experienced over the last decade has unleashed a wave of rapid drying.”

From Los Angeles Times

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