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Webster 1913 Edition


Brackish

Brack′ish

,
Adj.
[See
Brack
salt water.]
Saltish, or salt in a moderate degree, as water in saline soil.
Springs in deserts found seem sweet, all
brackish
though they be.
Byron.

Webster 1828 Edition


Brackish

BRACK'ISH

,
Adj.
[Gr. to water.] Salt, or salt in a moderate degree; it is applied to any water partially saturated with salt.

Definition 2024


brackish

brackish

English

Adjective

brackish (comparative more brackish, superlative most brackish)

  1. (of water) Salty or slightly salty, as a mixture of fresh and sea water, such as that found in estuaries.
    • 1638 Herbert, Sir Thomas Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
      ...by a low courſe and too long ſporting with the briny Ocean it taſts brackiſh and inſalubrious...
    • 1992, Joyce Carol Oates, Black Water, Penguin Books, paperback edition, page 4.
      On all sides a powerful brackish marshland odor, the odor of damp, and decay, and black earth, black water.
    • 2004, David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas, Random House.
      The water we took on at Chatham Isle is now brackish & without a dash of brandy in it, my stomach rebels.
  2. Distasteful; unpleasant; not appealing to the taste. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
  3. Repulsive (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

Translations