Fens

American

[fenz] / fɛnz /

noun

Also called Fenland. a marshy lowland region in eastern England, south of the Wash: partly drained and channeled since the 17th century.

Fens British

/ fɛnz /

plural noun

a flat low-lying area of E England, west and south of the Wash: consisted of marshes until reclaimed in the 17th to 19th centuries

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

According to the RSPB, the bird went extinct in the 1600s before a small number of wild cranes from mainland Europe ventured to the Norfolk Fens.

From BBC • Apr. 9, 2026

Mitschunas is leading research with a project that tests new crops in the flat Fens of Cambridgeshire by rewetting peatlands.

From Barron's • Oct. 31, 2025

He is part of the Fen Centre, the organising committee for racing on the Fens and a sub-committee of British Ice Skating.

From BBC • Jan. 12, 2025

"In a freezing winter, with winds cutting across the Fens, these roundhouses would have been pretty cosy," said CAU project archaeologist Dr Chris Wakefield.

From Science Daily • Mar. 20, 2024

I wondered if I would meet Char on his way to the Fens.

From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023