Definition

1. Noun:
   • A long, artificial mound or wall of earth, stone, or other material, constructed to hold back water, support a road or railway, or serve as a protective barrier.

Usage

• The primary function of an embankment is for engineering and construction purposes, such as flood control, transportation infrastructure, or land reclamation.
• It is typically a man-made, linear structure that is significantly longer than it is wide.

Examples

• Noun:
  • The river is held in check by a massive stone embankment.
  • The train sped along the embankment high above the valley floor.
  • They are reinforcing the embankment to prevent erosion during the storm season.

Advanced Usage

• "to breach an embankment": to break through or cause a failure in an embankment, often leading to flooding.
  • The hurricane's surge threatened to breach the coastal embankment.
• "embankment wall": a retaining wall that is part of or forms the face of an embankment.
  • The graffiti-covered embankment wall runs alongside the canal.

Variants and Related Words

• Embank (verb, less common): to protect, support, or confine with an embankment.
  • The plan is to embank the river to create more usable land.
• Embanked (adjective): describing land or a feature that has been provided with an embankment.
  • The embanked roadway provided a safe route through the marsh.

Synonyms

• Dyke (or Dike): a long wall or embankment built to prevent flooding, especially from the sea.
• Levee: an embankment built to prevent a river from overflowing.
• Causeway: a raised road or track across low or wet ground, often built on an embankment.
• Bank: a slope or mound, often natural, but can also be man-made (e.g., the bank of a canal).

Related Phrases

• Road embankment: specifically refers to an embankment built to carry a road.
  • The car skidded off the icy road embankment.
• Railway embankment: specifically refers to an embankment built to support a railway line.
  • Wildflowers grew in profusion on the old railway embankment.

Idioms

Noun

1. a long artificial mound of stone or earth; built to hold back water or to support a road or as protection