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landfall

landfall

42 4.5
The moment a ship, person, or storm reaches land after being at sea
  • noun
  • /ˈlændfɔl/
translation icon : llegada a tierra
  • Hurricane Arthur is due to make landfall sometime after 2:00 P.M.
  • make landfall
  • landfall of a hurricane
  • landfall along the coast

Examples

  • Between 1950 and 2005, 60 hurricanes, producing 734 tornadoes, made landfall along the Gulf coastline.

    Academic text (2011)
  • The first 2005 storm to make landfall as a hurricane, Dennis slammed into the Panhandle at 2:25 p.m.

    Academic text (2006)
  • ...where it will make landfall, but by Saturday, somewhere...

  • And it looks like it's gonna make landfall probably late tonight or early tomorrow morning.

  • Then they do their best to predict where the storm might make landfall and how powerful it might be.

  • And we are recording this one day before Hurricane Milton makes landfall on the West Coast of Florida.

  • Sometime early Tuesday morning, Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall somewhere between Delaware and New York.

    Blog text (3)
  • A hurricane's strength, its duration, and the location of its landfall are often uncertain until mere hours before it strikes land.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The troopship made a landfall in New Guinea, and our draft of seamen was set ashore.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • The hurricane made landfall on the coast, bringing heavy rain and strong winds.

Synonyms

landing
vslandfall
351 2.3

Coming down to a surface from the air or sea

is about reaching ground after travel across open water or sky
arrival
vslandfall
324 1.0

Coming to a place, often at the end of a journey

is specific to reaching shore after sea or air travel rather than any place
going ashore
vslandfall
10 3.5

Leaving a boat or ship to step onto land

is broader, naming reaching land for storms or craft rather than personal exit
to set ashore
vslandfall
4.1

To bring people or things from a boat onto land

means arrival by reaching shore after being at sea or over water

Antonyms

176 1.3

To leave a place to start a journey

Surface Forms

landfall singular
landfalls plural

Morphology

landfall = land + fall (transparent) = land + fall

The meaning is directly composed from 'land' + 'fall' referring to the act of coming to land after being at sea or in the air.

Etymology

Landfall is simply land + fall, literally 'land' and 'to fall', which makes you imagine something 'falling' onto land after a long time at sea or in the air. So, landfall means reaching or arriving at land, for a ship, a person, or a storm.