Meaning & use
freshwater
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Living in or found in rivers and lakes, not in the sea.
Grammar: Used before a noun: freshwater fish, freshwater plants.
Patterns
- freshwater fish
- freshwater species
- freshwater habitat
The lake is home to many freshwater fish.
Freshwater plants grow well in ponds and slow rivers.
Scientists are studying how pollution affects freshwater species.
adjectivebefore a noun
Containing little or no salt, as opposed to sea water.
Grammar: Used before a noun to describe the type of water: freshwater lake, freshwater supply.
Patterns
- freshwater lake
- freshwater supply
- freshwater source
The town gets its drinking water from a nearby freshwater lake.
Freshwater supplies are under pressure in many dry regions.
This area has both freshwater and saltwater wetlands.
noununcountable
Water that contains little or no salt, found in lakes and rivers.
Grammar: Uncountable; often used in the phrase 'fresh water' as two words when it means water itself.
Patterns
- fresh water
- a source of freshwater
Only a small part of the world's water is fresh water.
The village has no easy access to fresh water.
Common combinations
- freshwater fish
- We caught several freshwater fish in the river.
- freshwater lake
- Lake Baikal is the world's deepest freshwater lake.
- freshwater supply
- Climate change threatens the region's freshwater supply.
- freshwater ecosystem
- Dams can damage freshwater ecosystems.
- freshwater turtle
- The park protects several kinds of freshwater turtles.
Synonyms and how they differ
- inland
- Describes water or areas away from the sea, but does not say anything about salt content; a lake is both inland and freshwater, but a salt lake is inland without being freshwater.
- nonsaline
- A technical term meaning 'not salty'; freshwater is the everyday word and is used for natural water, while nonsaline is used in science and medicine.
Opposites
Word family
- fresh water noun
- Water without salt, often written as two words when it means the water itself.
Commonly confused: freshwater or fresh water?
freshwater vs fresh water
The two-word form usually means water that is not salty, while the one-word adjective 'freshwater' describes things that live in or contain such water, as in 'freshwater fish'.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'freshwater' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Freshwater describes water without salt, so freshwater fish live in rivers and lakes, not the ocean. Options An and B confuse freshwater with saltwater, and D contradicts the meaning of freshwater.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “freshwater”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.