English Reference
Noun

coastline

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US /ˈkoʊstˌɫaɪn/ UK /kˈəʊslaɪn/ coast·line UK spelling coastlines Nautical

n.the line where the land meets the sea. It marks the edge of the continent or island.

n.the boundary line separating land from the sea or ocean.


SIMPLE

We walked along the coastline for an hour.

CONTEXTUAL

The new hotel sits right on the coastline, offering guests direct access to the beach.

COMPLEX

Rising sea levels threaten to reshape the coastline, forcing communities to build higher walls and retreat from vulnerable shorelines.

The same stretch of coastline was struck by a similarly powerful earthquake in December 1992, when the quake and the tsunami it triggered killed more than 2,500 people on Flores.

Al Jazeera· 15 Aug 2026

Back at the end of June, the two teenagers had gone to the beach on Venezuela's Caribbean coastline.

BBC News· 14 Aug 2026

From coast + line.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency Frequent
Updated