canyon

or ca·ñon

[ kan-yuhn ]
See synonyms for canyon on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a deep valley with steep sides, often with a stream flowing through it.

Origin of canyon

1
An Americanism first recorded in 1835–45; from Colonial Spanish (Mexico, southwestern U.S.), Spanish cañón “a long tube, a hollow,” equivalent to cañ(a) “tube” (from Latin canna cane) + -on augmentative suffix

Other words for canyon

Words Nearby canyon

Other definitions for Canyon (2 of 2)

Canyon
[ kan-yuhn ]

noun
  1. a town in N Texas.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use canyon in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for canyon

canyon

caon

/ (ˈkænjən) /


noun
  1. a gorge or ravine, esp in North America, usually formed by the down-cutting of a river in a dry area where there is insufficient rainfall to erode the sides of the valley

Origin of canyon

1
C19: from Spanish cañón, from caña tube, from Latin canna cane

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for canyon

canyon

[ kănyən ]


  1. A long, deep, narrow valley with steep cliff walls, cut into the Earth by running water and often having a stream at the bottom.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.