Word.ws English Dictionary

blackwater

blackwater noun: water that contains dark organic matter such as loam or tannins.

Noun

blackwater (usually uncountable, plural blackwaters)

  1. (usually) Water that contains dark organic matter such as loam or tannins.
  2. (usually, river classification) Water that is acidic and low in nutrients.
  3. (usually) Blackwater fever; malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum.
    • She began talking of the way they had died – blackwater, malaria, a neglected appendix.1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 155
  4. (usually) Waste from domestic toilets; water containing fecal matter.
    • Ms. Conlin failed to report, among other things, that air emissions are regulated and that our industry is exploring new technologies to further reduce emissions; that our ships treat all blackwater; and that advanced wastewater purification systems discharge water cleaner than most municipal water...2009 March 1, “Letter: Green Cruising Efforts”, in New York Times
    Synonyms:
    brown water, foul water, sewage

Proper noun capitalized: Blackwater

Blackwater

  1. A surname from Navajo used by the Navajo people.
  2. A river in Essex, which flows into the North Sea at Bradwell.
    • The principal water-barrier of this type is the muddy estuary of the tidal River Blackwater, which is last bridged in the seaward direction at the ancient town of Maldon. […] In those days, yachting on the east coast was a favourite relaxation, and it was proposed to extend the line for 1¾ miles to...1950 December, R. C. J. Day and R. K. Kirkland, “The Kelvedon & Tollesbury Light Railway”, in Railway Magazine, pages 838, 839
  3. A river in Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire, which joins the River Loddon; the Hampshire town of Blackwater is on this river.
  4. A river in Wiltshire and Hampshire, which joins the River Test.
  5. A village in St Agnes parish, Cornwall (OS grid ref SW7346).
  6. A town in Blackwater and Hawley parish, Hart district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU8559).
  7. A village in Arreton parish, Isle of Wight (OS grid ref SZ5086).
  8. Any of several rivers in Ireland
  9. A river in County Fermanagh and County Armagh, Northern Ireland, with a stretch on the border with County Monaghan, Ireland; the river flows into Lough Neagh.

blackwater meaning in Tamil and Vietnamese

blackwater in Tamil

ஆடுகளின் பித்த நோய்

blackwater in Vietnamese

contaminated waste water
nước đen, nước bẩn

Synonyms of blackwater

Forms of blackwater

pluralblackwaters
alternative formblack water

Origin of blackwater

From black + water.

Words formed from blackwater

Phrases with blackwater

Questions about blackwater

What does blackwater mean?
Blackwater means water that contains dark organic matter such as loam or tannins.
What is blackwater in Tamil?
Blackwater in Tamil is ஆடுகளின் பித்த நோய். See Blackwater meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is blackwater?
Blackwater can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of blackwater?
The plural of blackwater is blackwaters.

Words near blackwater in the dictionary

  1. blackwashed
  2. blackwasher
  3. blackwashers
  4. blackwashes
  5. blackwashing
  6. blackwater
  7. Blackwater and Hawley
  8. blackwater fever
  9. blackwater rafting
  10. Blackwater State
  11. blackwaters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blackwater (page history and authors); Blackwater (page history and authors); blackwater (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blackwater.wav.

Cite this entry: “blackwater.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blackwater. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.