Meaning & use
breakwall
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Meaning
nouncountable
a strong wall or barrier built in the sea or along a shore to stop waves from damaging a harbor or coast
Grammar: Countable: use a/an or a plural. Often followed by at, along, or around: a breakwall at the harbor entrance.
Patterns
- a breakwall at something
- build a breakwall
- along the breakwall
The town built a new breakwall to protect the fishing boats from winter storms.
Waves crashed over the breakwall during the hurricane.
We walked along the breakwall and watched the sunset.
Word forms
| plural | breakwalls |
|---|
Common combinations
- build a breakwall
- Engineers plan to build a breakwall to stop beach erosion.
- a breakwall at the harbor
- There is a long breakwall at the harbor entrance.
- waves crash over the breakwall
- During the storm, waves crashed over the breakwall.
Synonyms and how they differ
- breakwater
- Breakwater is the more common and standard term for this structure; breakwall is a regional variant.
- seawall
- A seawall is usually built along the shore to stop erosion, while a breakwall is often offshore to break waves.
Word family
- breakwater noun
- the standard term for a barrier that breaks the force of waves
- seawall noun
- a wall built to protect land from the sea
Commonly confused: breakwall or breakwater?
breakwall vs breakwater
Breakwater is the usual word; breakwall is a less common variant, so in formal writing prefer breakwater.
Practice
The fishing boats were safe because a ______ protected the harbor from the storm.
Choose one answer.
A breakwall is a barrier that protects a harbor from waves, which fits the context. 'Breakwater' is a synonym and would also be correct, but 'breakwall' is the headword here. 'Seawall' protects the shore, not a harbor entrance, and a 'dam' holds back river water, not sea waves.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “breakwall”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.