Watershed
noun
1.
Chiefly British. the ridge or crest line dividing two drainage areas; water parting; divide.
2.
the region or area drained by a river, stream, etc.; drainage area.
3.
Architecture. wash (def 44).
4.
an important point of division or transition between two phases, conditions, etc.:
The treaty to ban war in space may prove to be one of history’s great watersheds.
adjective
5.
constituting a watershed:
a watershed area; a watershed case.
noun
1.
the dividing line between two adjacent river systems, such as a ridge
2.
an important period or factor that serves as a dividing line
watershed wa·ter·shed (wô’tər-shěd’)
n.
A ridge between two areas that directs drainage to either side.
The area of marginal blood flow at the extreme periphery of a vascular bed.
Ridges of the lumbar vetebrae and the pelvic brim formed in the abdominal cavity, which determine the direction in which a free effusion will gravitate when the body is supine.
watershed
(wô’tər-shěd’)
A continuous ridge of high ground forming a divide between two different drainage basins or river systems.
The region enclosed by such a divide and draining into a river, river system, or other body of water.
watershed definition
A ridge of high land dividing two areas that are drained by different river systems. On one side of a watershed, rivers and streams flow in one direction; on the other side they flow in another direction. Also, the area drained by a water system.
Note: By extension, a “watershed” is a critical point that serves as a dividing line: “The parties reached a watershed in the contract negotiations.”
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