Meaning & use
beach
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Meanings
nouncountable
A stretch of sand or small stones along the edge of a sea, lake, or river.
Grammar: Countable: a beach, the beach, beaches. Use 'on the beach' for location, 'at the beach' for the general place.
Patterns
- on the beach
- at the beach
- a sandy beach
- go to the beach
We spent the afternoon on the beach, building sandcastles.
The hotel is right on the beach, so you can hear the waves.
Many beaches in this area are made of pebbles rather than sand.
verbtransitive
To pull a boat or other water craft up onto the shore.
Grammar: Takes an object: beach the boat. Often used in the passive: the boat was beached.
Patterns
- beach a boat
- be beached
The sailors beached their small boat and walked inland.
A whale was beached on the shore, and rescuers tried to help it back into the water.
Word forms
| plural | beaches |
|---|---|
| third person singular | beaches |
| past tense | beached |
| past participle | beached |
| -ing form | beaching |
Common combinations
- sandy beach
- The children love the sandy beach because they can dig in the sand.
- beach towel
- Don't forget to pack a beach towel for our trip.
- beach resort
- They stayed at a beach resort with a pool and direct access to the sea.
- on the beach
- We lay on the beach and watched the sunset.
- beach volleyball
- Beach volleyball is a popular sport at the seaside.
Synonyms and how they differ
- shore
- Shore is a more general word for the land along any large body of water, including rocky or steep edges; beach usually suggests sand or pebbles where people relax.
- coast
- Coast refers to a wider area of land next to the sea, often including towns and cliffs; beach is just the sandy or pebbly strip.
- seaside
- Seaside means a place by the sea, especially as a vacation spot, and can include the whole town; beach is only the sandy area.
Word family
- beachfront noun
- The land or property right next to a beach.
- beachcomber noun
- A person who searches beaches for useful or valuable things.
Commonly confused: beach or beech?
beach vs beech
Beech is a type of tree; beach is the sandy shore. They sound the same but have different spellings and meanings.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'At the beach' is the usual phrase for being in that place. 'In the beach' is wrong because you are not inside it; 'on beach' needs 'the'; 'to the beach' shows direction, not location.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “beach”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.