irrigate
pronunciation
How to pronounce irrigate in British English:
UK [ˈɪrɪɡeɪt]
How to pronounce irrigate in American English:
US [ˈɪrɪɡeɪt]
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- Verb:
- supply with water, as with channels or ditches or streams
- supply with a constant flow or sprinkling of some liquid, for the purpose of cooling, cleansing, or disinfecting
Word Origin
- irrigate (v.)
- "supply land with water," 1610s, from Latin irrigatus, past participle of irrigare "lead water to, refresh, irrigate, flood," from assimilated form of in- "into, in, on, upon" (see in- (2)) + rigare "to water, to moisten," of uncertain origin, perhaps cognate with rain. Related: Irrigated; irrigating. In Middle English it was an adjective, "watered, flooded" (mid-15c.).
Example
- 1. The water would be reused to irrigate crops .
- 2. The treated water can be reused to flush the loo or irrigate crops .
- 3. In 2002 , he spearheaded a project to reverse the flow of the vast river ob through siberia to help irrigate the country 's parched central asian neighbors .
- 4. Much of libya 's water supply used to come from expensive desalination plants on the coast , which left little water to irrigate land-vital in this largely desert country .
- 5. Some of the evaporated seawater inside the greenhouse also condenses creating freshwater , which will be used to irrigate plants .