Synonyms of dams

dams 1 of 2

noun

plural of dam

as in levees

a bank of earth constructed to control water

the river backed up behind the dam until it formed a new lake

Synonyms & Similar Words

• levees
• embankments
• canals
• dikes
• ramparts
• barriers
• weirs
• ditches
• locks
• heads
• barricades
• breakwaters
• gutters
• seawalls
• jetties
• channels
• blocks
• earthworks
• troughs
• sluices
• bulwarks
• breastworks
• barrages
• floodgates
• milldams
• stanks

dams

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of dam

1

as in blocks

to prevent passage through by filling with something

ice floes were damming the river

Synonyms & Similar Words

• blocks
• obstructs
• floods
• jams
• congests
• clogs
• stuffs
• fills
• occludes
• clots
• stops (up)
• plugs (up)
• chokes
• gums (up)
• corks
• packs
• silts
• furs
• spiles
• swamps
• stopples
• stoppers
• overwhelms
• inundates
• gridlocks
• bungs
• gluts

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• unblocks
• frees
• opens (up)
• clears
• unplugs
• excavates
• scoops (out)
• unclogs
• hollows (out)
• empties
• unstops
• lightens

2

as in fills

to close up so that no empty spaces remain

dam up the pipes

Synonyms & Similar Words

• fills
• plugs
• packs
• blocks
• seals
• stuffs
• clogs
• bungs
• congests
• stops
• caulks
• jams
• clots
• occludes
• closes (off)
• obstructs
• chinks
• chokes
• restuffs
• repacks

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• scoops (out)
• excavates
• shovels
• hollows (out)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of dams

Noun

The Scott River flows into the Klamath downstream from where the dams stood. — Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

Public Works is preparing for 24-hour operations, monitoring low-water crossings, dams, roadways, debris and traffic signals while staging barricades for potential road closures. — Jacob Beltran, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Sep. 2026

Reuters reported in 2025 that China and India, the world's most populous countries, have built 68 major dams in the Himalayas and another 101 are in the pipeline. — Mamita Bhandari, NPR, 23 Sep. 2026

Much of the Sacramento Valley depends on a network of levees, dams and bypasses to handle both large volumes of rainwater and extra releases from the many reservoirs in the mountains and foothills. — Sean MacAday, Sacbee.com, 21 Sep. 2026

Old levees and dams, for example, can leave a community vulnerable to catastrophic flooding, as the Seattle area saw in December 2025 when flooding from heavy rainfall broke levees in multiple communities. — Bethany Tietjen, The Conversation, 21 Sep. 2026

Detectives drained three dams, searched six mineshafts and sent up drones with specialized cameras to take detailed imagery, later analyzed with artificial intelligence. — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Sep. 2026

The maintenance cycle helps make sure the dams, and SRP’s water delivery system, keeps running smoothly. — Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 18 Sep. 2026

Verb

Then dams and expanding farmlands dried it up and turned it into a patchwork of fields, roads and towns. — Ian James, Los Angeles Times, 26 Sep. 2026

Mormon Flat, which dams Canyon Lake, was constructed in 1925, and is one of SRP’s oldest dams. — Sarah Henry, AZCentral.com, 18 Sep. 2026

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asked experts to study what happened at the Edenville and Sanford dams. — ABC News, 23 Apr. 2026

Glacial outburst floods happen when the ice dams holding back glacial lakes fail, allowing a sudden release of water. — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 13 Aug. 2025