🌬️ Toward land 🏖️ Toward the shore

shoreward

3.9

Moving toward the shore from the water

adverb
/ˈʃɔːrwərd/

: hacia la orilla

And just before I got washed back shoreward by a wave, what I heard Lucy say was, "Fine."
pushed shoreward
moved shoreward

Examples

In late summer, pushed shoreward by a gentle east wind, low-oxygen water steals into Mobile Bay, Alabama, at night.

Academic text (2006)
The launch pulled shoreward.

Fiction book (1992)
Outside, the wind rushed over the glinting wave tops, making them surge shoreward.

Fiction book (1998)
The dessiks' own favorite prey, a small fish normally found in shallow water near the shore, moved farther out to sea when the surface water became sufficiently warmed, which it usually did by afternoon, and the dessik moved shoreward to feed on them.

Fiction book (2002)
And in the clear ocean waters off Victoria, Brooke observed that "a few gigantic stalks of glossy brown seaweed seemed to be shouldering their way shoreward through the calm."

Academic text (2013)
As it neared the beach, the passenger stepped into the surf, gave the boat a shove to get it reversed, headed out to sea, waved nonchalantly, and quietly splashed his way shoreward.

Fiction book (2002)
The boat drifted gently shoreward until it reached the sandy beach.
As the tide receded, the debris washed shoreward, revealing the shells underneath.
The children ran shoreward, excited by the sight of the waves crashing on the beach.

Synonyms

ashore

vsshoreward

111 1.5

Onto the land from the sea or other water

is movement toward shore without implying arrival on dry land

onshore

vsshoreward

15 3.5

Located on land near the sea or moving from the sea toward the land

is movement toward shore from water rather than indicating land location

inshore

vsshoreward

1 3.5

Toward the land from the sea

is movement that may reach land rather than staying within water

shoreside

vsshoreward

3.4

Toward or at the edge of a body of water

is movement toward shore without focusing on the sea versus land contrast

coastward

vsshoreward

4.6

Moving toward the shore

is movement specifically toward the shore rather than a broader coastal region

landward

vsshoreward

6.7

Toward the land and away from the sea

is movement toward the nearer shore or land rather than far inland

landwards

vsshoreward

6.8

Toward the land and away from the sea

is movement toward shore or nearby land, not necessarily deep inland

Antonyms

seaward

1 3.2

Toward the sea

Surface Forms

shoreward positive

Morphology

shoreward = shore (transparent) = shore + ward

Formed by the noun 'shore' plus the directional suffix '-ward'; adverbial meaning 'toward the shore' is straightforward.

Etymology

The word shoreward joins shore ('land by the sea') and the direction ending -ward ('toward'), so as an adverb it means 'toward the shore', for example to row shoreward is to row toward land.