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🌊 A famous waterfall 🏙️ A city in USA
Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls

9 1.0
A large, famous waterfall on the border between Canada and the United States
  • proper noun
  • /naɪˈæɡərə fɔlz/
translation icon : Cataratas del Niágara
  • Many tourists visit Niagara Falls each year to experience its stunning beauty and power.

So today we are going to Niagara Falls and I know that Dan and I have done a Niagara Falls blog before.

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Examples

  • Ontario abounds with many photo ops, and its crown jewel is Niagara Falls, still spectacular despite much of its water being diverted to hydro power.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Twenty-two million: that's how many made it to Niagara Falls last year.

    Blog text (5)

  • So why do you wanna go to Niagara Falls, anyway?

    Tammy (2014)

  • We spent a week in Niagara Falls.

    The Current War (2018)

  • Said she and her mom went to Niagara Falls.

    The Whole Nine Yards (2000)

  • We're going to Niagara Falls.

    Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

  • We went to Niagara Falls when I was 11 for a family vacation.

    Blog text (2)

  • When standing in front of Niagara Falls, I could only use expressions like breathtaking, overwhelming, or just beyond words!

    Blog text (1)

  • An hour past Toronto, she exited to the highway that would carry her to Niagara Falls, where she would cross the border and begin her journey west.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • The Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Niagara Falls, and the Island of Mackinaw.

    Blog text (30)

Synonyms

Niagara
vsNiagara Falls
39 3.2

A large famous waterfall on the border of Canada and the United States

refers to the same large border waterfall without naming its component falls

Surface Forms

Niagara Falls main

Morphology

Niagara + falls

The phrase combines a proper place name ('Niagara') with 'falls' (waterfalls), so its meaning — the waterfalls/place at Niagara — is directly compositional from its parts. Toponym + 'Falls' is a transparent naming pattern cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer it refers to the waterfalls/place.

Etymology

Niagara Falls may come from a Native American word that people say meant 'thundering water'. People heard the river crash over the falls, so the name fits the big, noisy waterfall.