English Reference
Adjective

onshore

adj.
C1 Advanced US /ˈɑnˌʃɔɹ/ UK /ˈɒnʃɔː/ on·shore

adj.located on the land near the sea or a lake. You use this to describe things like wind farms or oil rigs that are built on the coast rather than in the ocean.

adj.situated on the land adjacent to a body of water, such as the sea or a lake. Often used to distinguish land-based infrastructure from offshore equivalents.


SIMPLE

The company is building a new onshore wind farm.

CONTEXTUAL

While offshore drilling is expensive, onshore extraction is often more accessible for smaller energy firms.

COMPLEX

The transition to renewable energy has seen a significant shift toward onshore wind and solar farms, which are generally easier to maintain and integrate into the existing national grid.

SunZia has been in the works for about a decade and arrives at a time when US onshore wind power development has dwindled for a host of reasons related to regulations and public opinion.

Ars Technica· 15 Aug 2026

In parallel, the government was pursuing a similar approach for onshore wind.

Ars Technica· 7 Aug 2026

From on + shore.

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

This entry
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Occasional
Updated