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.

Had the river been left to its own devices, a super-wet spring like that of 2011 would have sent the Mississippi and its distributaries surging over their banks.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 25, 2019

Every 1,000 years or so, it abandoned its main channel for one of its distributaries.

From Economist • Aug. 24, 2017

The Mississippi River delta is a river-dominated delta, shaped by levees along the river and its distributaries that confine the flow forming a shape called a bird-foot delta.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Streams can be divided into three main sections: the many smaller tributaries in the source area, the main trunk stream in the floodplain and the distributaries at the mouth of the stream.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Like other deltaic distributaries, they are subject to sudden changes in their channels, and to constant silting up.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 8 "Hudson River" to "Hurstmonceaux" by Various