reef

Rather than forming one solid coral wall, the reef appears to consist of separate coral patches growing on rocky sections of the seabed where conditions are suitable.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

Others are placed onto table frames fixed to the ocean floor, and yet others are mounted onto plugs, screwed into a three-hole "cookie" and planted onto the reef.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

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

The speck was at Scarborough Shoal, a much-contested reef in the South China Sea, a maritime thoroughfare for about a quarter of the world’s seaborne trade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

The reef is gnarly here, not something a surfer wants to be dropped on by a ten-foot wall of water.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

Scientists say additional surveys may reveal more reefs elsewhere in the surrounding area.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 15, 2026

More than 90 percent of excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the oceans, sparing land from warming but at severe cost to marine life, reefs and coastal communities.

From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026

These days, hikers flock to the island’s mangrove forests and divers to its coral reefs, teeming with turtles and pufferfish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

The actor reportedly paid $1.75 million for the property after being inspired by a scuba-diving trip to Belize’s coral reefs.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026

Like a dolphin lying on its side, with its tail pointing toward the sunrise, its nose pointing to the sunset, and its fins making reefs and the rocky ledges along the shore.

From "Island of the Blue Dolphins" by Scott O'Dell

Divers and many fishermen want more to be reefed; shrimpers complain that reefs prevent them from dragging nets across parts of the ocean floor.

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

We have the sails tightly reefed and tied down.

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

The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement urges states to issue reefing permits.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

For now, the evidence suggests that reefing is a rare policy.

From Economist ● Jun. 12, 2014

But the science regarding the safety of artificial reefing is still being developed.

From Time Magazine Archive

Already reefing from the floods, Cahokia never recovered from the earthquake.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann