basin

A bowl, often fixed in a bathroom, where you wash your hands and face.

• Wash your hands in the basin.
• The bathroom basin has a leaking tap.
• She left the soap beside the basin.

Similar words: sink, washbasin

Common phrases: wash basin, bathroom basin, basin tap

A wide, fairly shallow container for holding water or other things.

• She filled a basin with water.
• Pour the mixture into a wide basin.
• We carried three metal basins into the kitchen.

How to use it: basin of something (He brought a basin of warm water.)

Similar words: bowl

Common phrases: basin of water, plastic basin, fill a basin

An area of land where rain and rivers all flow towards the same river, lake, or sea.

• Rainfall increased across the river basin.
• The Amazon basin contains many smaller rivers.
• Pollution upstream can affect the whole basin.

How to use it: basin of something (Many farms lie within the basin of this river.)

Similar words: drainage area, catchment

Common phrases: river basin, drainage basin, basin of something

A wide area of low land, often surrounded by higher land.

• The town lies in a wide basin.
• Mountains surround the dry basin.
• Ancient lakes left thick layers of sand in the basin.

Similar words: depression, hollow

Common phrases: mountain basin, desert basin, low basin

Something shaped like a wide bowl, with a low middle and higher sides.

• The rock had a shallow basin.
• Rain collected in the basin worn into the stone.
• The melted ice left a smooth basin in the surface.

Similar words: hollow, depression

Common phrases: shallow basin, basin in something, basin shape