shoal

UK: /ˈʃəʊl/ US: /ʃoʊl/ ,(shōl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

shoal¹ /ʃoʊl/   n. [countable]

1. a place where a sea or river is shallow.
2. a sandbank in the water, visible at low tide.

shoal² /ʃoʊl/   n. [countable]

1. any large number of persons or things.
2. Animal Behavior a school of fish.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

shoal¹  (shōl), n. 

1. Nautical, Naval Terms a place where a sea, river, or other body of water is shallow.
2. a sandbank or sand bar in the bed of a body of water, esp. one that is exposed above the surface of the water at low tide.

adj. 

3. of little depth, as water;
   shallow.

v.i. 

4. to become shallow or more shallow.

v.t. 

5. to cause to become shallow.
6. Nautical, Naval Terms to sail so as to lessen the depth of (the water under a vessel).

• bef. 900; (adjective, adjectival) Middle English (Scots) shald, Old English sceald shallow; (noun, nominal and verb, verbal) derivative of the adjective, adjectival

Synonyms

• 1. shallow, rapid, riffle.
• 2. reef.

shoal²  (shōl), n. 

1. any large number of persons or things.
2. Animal Behavior a school of fish.

v.i. 

3. to collect in a shoal;
   throng.

• Middle Dutch, Middle Low German schōle, with sound-substitution of sh- for Low German skh-; compare school²
• earlier shole, probably 1570–80

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

shoal / ʃəʊl/ noun

1. a stretch of shallow water
2. a sandbank or rocky area in a stretch of water, esp one that is visible at low water

verb

1. to make or become shallow
2. (intransitive) to sail into shallower water

adjective
also: shoaly

1. a less common word for shallow

Etymology: Old English sceald shallow

shoal / ʃəʊl/ noun

1. a large group of certain aquatic animals, esp fish
2. a large group of people or things

verb

1. (intransitive) to collect together in such a group

Etymology: Old English scolu; related to Middle Low German, Middle Dutch schōle school²