Definition of "watershed" []

• A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. Also called water parting. (noun)
• The region draining into a river, river system, or other body of water. (noun)
• A critical point that marks a division or a change of course; a turning point: "a watershed in modern American history, a time that ... forever changed American social attitudes” ( Robert Reinhold). (noun)

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.

• "The term watershed is used (especially in North America and Europe) to indicate an area of land from which all water falling as rain or snow would flow toward a single point."
• "Today Mr. Bush is touting what he calls a watershed event in Iraq and he's asking for patience from Americans who disapprove of his handling of the war in Iraq, 62 percent taken in our poll only last week."
• "Part of the reason Final Fantasy VII was such a watershed is that it was the first time most of us had played an RPG story where we got to see dramatic visuals of the characters in three dimensions."