{
  "id": "channel.waterway",
  "term": "channel",
  "sense": "waterway",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 15,
  "arena": "channel",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a narrow passage through which water flows",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "space.extent",
      "water.liquid",
      "flow.movement",
      "motion.movement",
      "small.size"
    ],
    "interaction": "when a limited extent of space constrains the movement of water, a channel forms through which flow is directed",
    "novel_properties": [
      "directed flow",
      "constrained passage",
      "sustained watercourse"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The English Channel carries tidal flows between the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean, constraining ship routes at its narrowest point near Dover.",
      "domain": "geography"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Panama Canal’s locks regulate water flow through a narrow artificial channel connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "Antarctic bottom water moves through the Faure Channel, a deep passage in the South Orkney Islands, detected by submersible sensors.",
      "domain": "oceanography"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "track.path",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    },
    {
      "id": "water.liquid",
      "note": "medium-for",
      "type": "medium-for"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [],
  "forms": [
    "channel",
    "channeled",
    "channeling",
    "channels"
  ],
  "closed": false,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "definition",
      "note": "Definition revised to align with components and eliminate reliance on unstated concepts; 'small space' replaced with 'narrow passage' to preserve size sense without assuming 'small' as primitive; adde"
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-channel.waterway"
}