phreatic.

1. Relating to groundwater in the saturated zone beneath the water table.

2. Relating to an explosive release when groundwater is heated rapidly into steam.

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Words that belong together

• phreatic water
• phreatic zone

On the page

The bore reached phreatic water beneath the dry surface.

A cavity opened within the phreatic zone.

Usage notes

Primary category: environment. Forms: Normally non-gradable as a seasonal, material, ecological, or geographic relation; comparison requires a measurable or descriptive basis. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.