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Definition of "canal" []

  • An artificial waterway or artificially improved river used for travel, shipping, or irrigation. (noun)
  • Anatomy A tube, duct, or passageway. (noun)
  • Astronomy One of the faint, hazy markings resembling straight lines on early telescopic images of the surface of Mars. (noun)
  • To dig an artificial waterway through: canal an isthmus. (verb-transitive)
  • To provide with an artificial waterway or waterways. (verb-transitive)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "canal" in a sentence
  • "Before these impervious forest retreats were thus pierced, they could not have tasted human blood; for ages it must have been unknown to them, even by tradition; and if they taxed all other boats on the canal as they did, ours, a _canal share_ with them must be considerably above par, and highly profitable."
  • "This canal is actually a main street of the city just as it would be in Venice and was jammed with houses side by side and the houses were jammed with people."
  • "An American tourist and writer once said: Usually a canal is a disfigurement, but the Rideau is different: it is a decorative feature and a source of endless entertainment."