reef
Example Sentences
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In one dramatic episode, an American ship, the Philadelphia, was grounded on a reef and captured, but in 1804, the Americans launched a successful mission to rescue her with no casualties.
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
"They are extremely colorful and can be spotted on coral reef ecosystems. However, many nudibranchs are very small in size and are extremely difficult to spot underwater with the naked eye."
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
Kennedy Shoal is a well-known fishing reef in deep water.
From Barron's ● May 24, 2026
After nearly a year of sailing, the ship struck a reef in heavy storms and foundered on May 21, 1832.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
The sea water kept the abalones fresh, but when we had to go out again the night was too dark to find our way to the reef.
From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell
To reach those ancient reefs, the team had to cross extensive layers of rock known as turbidites.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026
The United Nations Scientific Advisory Board released a report outlining the dangers of crossing irreversible tipping points, from ice melt that would further raise sea levels to the collapse of coral reefs and Amazon decline.
From Barron's ● Jun. 23, 2026
Oceanographers at the state-controlled Chinese Academy of Sciences said the platform was a temporary scientific research facility studying the shoal’s coral reefs.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026
Wildfires, floods, melting ice caps, heat waves, the bleaching of ocean reefs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
Some say that is a land greater than all the Archipelago, and others say it is mere reefs and rocks with ice between.
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
Not one platform off California has been reefed.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
The firm has only reefed 12 of the 60 Gulf of Mexico platforms it has decommissioned.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
Currently, less than a tenth of America’s old oil and gas platforms are reefed.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
Pessimistic Mr. Avery, convinced that the U.S. was in for a slump any day, had kept Ward's canvas tightly reefed for the big blow.
From Time Magazine Archive
There was a sailboat with rusty red sails reefed around the booms of the fore and aft masts.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
Part of that action is Patten’s realization that the sailor’s standard storm tactics—including reefing, heaving-to and lying a-hull—will not work in such an intense blow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 8, 2025
State coffers gain: oil firms typically hand over half the money they save by reefing.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
Four years ago the Golden State passed a law allowing reefing.
From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014
What Dean likes most about the design are the space, comfort and the simple single-line reefing system, which Nautor first perfected on his Swan 44.
From Time Magazine Archive
Pole Star was reefing its own sails and slowing, guiding itself with the minimum acceleration so that it could come up beside them and board.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
Vocabulary lists containing reef
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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