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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

watershed.

The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈwɔːtəʃɛd/UK/ˈwɔtɚʃɛd/US
  1. The topographical boundary dividing two adjacent catchment basins, such as a ridge or a crest.

    Australia · Ireland · New-Zealand · UK
  2. A region of land within which water flows down into a specified body, such as a river, lake, sea, or ocean; a drainage basin.

    Canada · US
  3. A critical point marking a change in course or development.

    figuratively
    watershed moment — watershed event — watershed ruling
  4. The time of day after which material of a more adult nature (e.g., violence, swear words, or nudity) may be broadcast on television or radio, either one permitted by law or one contrived from convention (e.g. when children are not watching).

    Canada · UK
Where this word comes from

From water + shed. A calque of German Wasserscheide.

adj/ˈwɔːtəʃɛd/UK/ˈwɔtɚʃɛd/US
  1. Serving to mark a significant development, change in direction, etc.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From water + shed. A calque of German Wasserscheide.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.