a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.
any similar body or pool of other liquid, as oil.
any of various pigments prepared from animal, vegetable, or coal-tar coloring matters by chemical or other union with metallic compounds.
a red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal by combination with a metallic compound.
an expanse of water entirely surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams
anything resembling this
a surplus of a liquid commodity
a wine lake
a bright pigment used in textile dyeing and printing inks, produced by the combination of an organic colouring matter with an inorganic compound, usually a metallic salt, oxide, or hydroxide See also mordant
a red dye obtained by combining a metallic compound with cochineal
before 1000; Middle English lak ( e ), lac ( e ), apparently a conflation of Old French lac, its source, Latin lacus (compare Greek lákkos, Old Irish loch, Old English, Old Saxon lagu sea, water) and Old English lacu stream, water course (compare leccan to moisten, modern dial. lake stream, channel; see leach 1)
First recorded in 1610–20; variant of lac 1
A lake is a large body of water that is surrounded by land. The lake's water can be fresh (like Lake Michigan) or, more rarely, salty (like the Great Salt Lake). A lake is generally accepted as being bigger than a "pond." Lake is also a type of pigment or dye that is made when a dye that can dissolve is mixed with a metallic salt or other binder that is incapable of being dissolved, rendering an insoluble pigment. Indigo lake, for example, is a blue pigment that was originally made from the woad plant but later from the indigo plant. Carmine or crimson lake, on the other hand, is made from crushed cochineal insects and is a red pigment.
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Hesperia lacks the widely available activities found in an urban center, so when monstrous fish are caught in the local lake, “it picks up traction pretty quickly,” Hernandez said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
The novel begins when Gelsomina ingests five parasitic worms after lapping up lake water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
He whipped out his phone walking along the lake beach from his parked car to a restaurant in the resort town of Lacanau.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
It was a Saturday, and the sky above the lake was shockingly clear.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
The junction of stream and lake, where he and Abby played sink-the-ships, was underwater.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
The excitement surrounding the lake is a huge win for the district and the fishing community after Hesperia Lake Park closed for three months at the start of the year, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
It gives the firms recruiting muscle; Kirkland has opened offices in Nashville, Tenn., and Salt Lake City to entice new partners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
In mid-July, the combined water levels of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the two largest reservoirs in the United States and both fed by the Colorado River, reached their lowest levels in over 60 years.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
England's Morgan Lake did not clear the bar with any of her three efforts in the high jump.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Before the eruption, Spirit Lake had flowed into the North Fork of the Toutle River, but the landslide dammed the lake.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
