freshet

[ fresh-it ]

noun

1. a freshwater stream flowing into the sea.
2. a sudden rise in the level of a stream, or a flood, caused by heavy rains or the rapid melting of snow and ice.

freshet

/ ˈfrɛʃɪt /

noun

1. the sudden overflowing of a river caused by heavy rain or melting snow
2. a stream of fresh water emptying into the sea

Word History and Origins

Origin of freshet¹

First recorded in 1590–1600; fresh (noun) + -et

Synonym Study

See flood.

Example Sentences

The river, swollen with freshets from the thawing, was swifter than ever, exultantly rushing along.

From Literature

However, spring spill would be boosted, to help spring Chinook by providing something more like a spring freshet for young fish migrating to the sea.

From Seattle Times

“The play itself is a freshet of good will, a celebration of the indomitability of man, a call to return to the earth,” the critic Mel Gussow wrote in the Times in 1979.

From New York Times

All this drama bursts out in freshets of stagy verbiage and blubbering.

From New York Times

Streams and freshets ran all over the Los Angeles landscape, and Arroyo de la Sacatela coursed virtually alongside the dozen or so acres of the Bimini Baths site.

From Los Angeles Times