as in creek
a natural body of running water smaller than a river
the fugitive made use of local runnels to throw the bloodhounds off his scent
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Recent Examples of runnel
Water fun will be a big draw, whether observing the natural pond-like runnel feature or the chutes of tumbling water and inch-deep pools safe to play in.
—
Dallas News, 15 Apr. 2022
Designed by Louis Kahn for Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine, the complex sits on a shelf above the Pacific, a symmetrical white piazza flanked by buildings that are angled like a theater’s wings and bisected by a narrow runnel.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 15 Mar. 2021
The road ran like a twisty runnel through fuchsia hedges and bright fields of buttercups and cow parsley, up to a pass among the 3,000-foot Slieve Mish mountains.
—New York Times, 12 Aug. 2019
In summer, runoff from cloudbursts etches into the softer limestones and sluices through the deep runnels.
—National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2019
Grouting crews fan out across the subways every night, looking for runnels down walls and stalactites of muck oozing from ceilings, patching up incursions that are closest to electrical components first.
—Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2018
Dallas News, 15 Apr. 2022
Designed by Louis Kahn for Jonas Salk, who created the polio vaccine, the complex sits on a shelf above the Pacific, a symmetrical white piazza flanked by buildings that are angled like a theater’s wings and bisected by a narrow runnel.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 15 Mar. 2021
The road ran like a twisty runnel through fuchsia hedges and bright fields of buttercups and cow parsley, up to a pass among the 3,000-foot Slieve Mish mountains.
—New York Times, 12 Aug. 2019
In summer, runoff from cloudbursts etches into the softer limestones and sluices through the deep runnels.
—National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2019
Grouting crews fan out across the subways every night, looking for runnels down walls and stalactites of muck oozing from ceilings, patching up incursions that are closest to electrical components first.
—Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 12 Feb. 2018
Recent Examples of Synonyms for runnel
Noun
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The Spa The Spa is a collection of treatment tents set along a creek that lends a soundtrack to your massage, facial, or body wrap.—
Maya Kachroo-Levine,
Travel + Leisure,
18 Apr. 2025
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Or Frank Lloyd Wright, with his long, often low-slung homes of concrete and red tidewater cypress, designed to harmonize with their surroundings (Fallingwater, one of his most famous works, is perched over a creek in a quiet glade outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).—
Nick Remsen,
CNN Money,
7 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The 1851-52 painting by John Everett Millais is one of the most popular renderings of Ophelia's death, which depicts her lying, almost peacefully, among flowers in a brook.—
Audrey Gibbs,
USA Today,
8 Apr. 2025
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The mass-participation ball game involves two teams, whose players are decided according to which side of the town's small brook they were born on.—
Alan Taylor,
The Atlantic,
7 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Runnel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/runnel. Accessed 1 May. 2025.
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