Meaning & use
sandbar
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A long raised area of sand in water, formed by currents and often just below the surface.
Grammar: Countable: a sandbar, two sandbars, the sandbar.
Patterns
- a sandbar in something
- form a sandbar
- a sandbar near something
The boat got stuck on a sandbar near the river mouth.
At low tide you can walk out to the sandbar.
Strong currents built up a new sandbar across the bay.
Word forms
| plural | sandbars |
|---|
Common combinations
- a sandbar in the river
- A sandbar in the river makes the water shallow there.
- get stuck on a sandbar
- The ferry got stuck on a sandbar during the storm.
- a shifting sandbar
- Shifting sandbars make this channel hard to navigate.
- a sandbar forms
- A sandbar forms where the current slows down.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
Commonly confused: sandbar or sandbank?
sandbar vs sandbank
A sandbank is often larger and may be permanently under water; a sandbar is usually long and narrow and may appear at low tide.
Practice
The fishing boat ran aground on a ___ just outside the harbor.
Choose one answer.
A sandbar is a raised area of sand in water, which can stop a boat. 'Sandpaper' is for smoothing wood, 'sandstorm' is a desert wind, and 'sandwich' is food.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sandbar”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.