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Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Foundations and Soil

Retaining wall

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

nounCommon term

In civil engineering & construction, retaining wall means: A wall built to hold back soil or water where the ground level changes suddenly, for example beside a road cutting or around a basement.

In Turkish: istinat duvarı, dayanma duvarı

How it is used

Retaining walls are designed against overturning and sliding, and they usually need drainage behind them. Types include gravity, cantilever, reinforced soil and anchored walls.

Example sentences

  1. The retaining wall along the access road started to lean after the heavy rain.

  2. We'll need weep holes in the retaining wall to release the water pressure.

Common collocations

  • cantilever retaining wall
  • gravity retaining wall
  • retaining wall drainage
  • weep holes
  • backfillSoil or granular material placed back into an excavation around foundations, pipes or walls after they have been built; also the act of filling it.
  • drainageThe system of pipes, channels, gullies and ditches that collects rainwater or wastewater and carries it away from a road, building or site.
  • groundwaterWater held underground in the soil and in cracks in rock. Its upper surface is called the water table.
  • foundationThe lowest part of a structure, usually below ground, which spreads the building's loads safely into the soil or rock underneath.
  • excavationThe process of digging out and removing soil or rock to make space for foundations, basements, trenches or tunnels; also the hole that is dug.

More terms: Foundations and Soil

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