barrier island

noun

1. a broadened barrier beach, habitable in places, that provides a measure of protection for the mainland, as during hurricanes and tidal waves.

barrier island

/ băr′ē-ər /

1. A long, narrow sand island that is parallel to the mainland and serves to protect the coast from erosion. Barrier islands typically have dunes along the exposed outer side, zones of vegetation in the interior, and swampy areas along the inner lagoon.

barrier island

1. Any low sandy island that is parallel to the mainland and protects it from storms. ( See Cape Hatteras .)

Notes

Barrier islands normally change location every ten to thirty years, a fact that makes coastline management a major problem in environmental policy.

Example Sentences

In Mississippi, you’ll need to know someone with a boat who will take you out to one of the barrier islands, and even then you might strike out.

From Outside Online

I checked the forecast, and it looked like the Isle of Palms, a barrier island 30 miles east of Charleston, was the best bet.

From Outside Online

We’d be traveling from our home in Atlanta to Hunting Island State Park, a barrier island six hours and 300 miles southeast on the coast of South Carolina, where we’d spend a few days camping and paddleboarding.

From Outside Online

The 12-story condo tower that crashed down early Thursday near Miami Beach was built on reclaimed wetlands and is perched on a barrier island facing an ocean that has risen about a foot in the past century due to climate change.

From Washington Post

Champlain Towers was typical of the oceanfront halfway up the barrier island of Miami Beach — mid-rise buildings erected in the 1980s to serve the older folks who were moving up from then-decaying South Beach and down from the frigid North.

From Washington Post

Long Beach, it should be noted, is a narrow barrier island three feet above sea level and prone to flooding.

From The Daily Beast

The Little Barrier Island, though possessing no harbour, has several yachting anchorages.

From Project Gutenberg

He did not visit the barrier island or the Laguna Madre de Tamaulipas.

From Project Gutenberg

Dr. Marshall Johnston kindly identified specimens of plants from the barrier island.

From Project Gutenberg

This subspecies is presumably confined in distribution to the barrier island of Tamaulipas.

From Project Gutenberg

This species has not been reported previously from the barrier island of Tamaulipas.

From Project Gutenberg