Bank vs. Shore: What's the Difference?
Edited by Harlon Moss || By Janet White || Updated on September 27, 2023
A bank is the land alongside a body of water; a shore is the land bordering a large body of water such as a sea or ocean.
Key Differences
The words "bank" and "shore" convey different concepts related to landmasses adjacent to bodies of water. The term "bank" generally refers to the sides of smaller bodies of water such as rivers or streams. It denotes the areas of land that run along the edges of these water bodies, typically confining the flow of the water. The bank serves as a boundary for smaller bodies of water, and it can be a critical component in understanding river topography and dynamics.
On the other hand, the word "shore" pertains to the land that borders the edge of a large body of water like an ocean, sea, or lake. Shore describes a broader expanse and usually includes the area that is periodically submerged due to tides in the case of seas and oceans. It is integral in coastal studies and marine biology, serving as a transition zone between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, often hosting diverse flora and fauna.
Bank is more specific in its reference, usually describing the sides of narrower and smaller water bodies. It helps in the demarcation of rivers and streams and is essential for analyzing water flow and managing water resources effectively. The geographical and ecological attributes of a bank are distinctive and pertinent to the water body it borders, often exhibiting specialized ecosystems adapted to the specific environment of a river or stream.
Conversely, shore is a more encompassing term, relating to extensive land areas bordering vast water bodies. The characteristics of a shore are diverse, ranging from sandy beaches to rocky cliffs, and are subjected to the influences of tidal movements and wave actions. The shore is fundamental in studying coastal environments and is a crucial habitat for numerous marine and terrestrial species.
In essence, while both bank and shore denote land adjacent to water, bank is specific to the sides of rivers or streams, and shore refers to the land along the edges of seas, oceans, or large lakes. Each term has its unique applications and implications in different scientific and ecological studies, reflecting the varied nature of the land-water interface in different contexts.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
The land alongside a river or stream.
The land bordering a sea, ocean, or a large lake.
Scope
Refers to smaller bodies of water.
Pertains to large bodies of water.
Characteristics
Confines the flow of water.
Subject to tides and can include beaches to cliffs.
Ecosystem
Specific to rivers and streams.
Transition zone between terrestrial and marine.
Application
Used in river topography and dynamics.
Fundamental in coastal studies and marine biology.
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Bank and Shore Definitions
Bank
A financial institution that accepts deposits and grants loans.
I need to visit the bank to deposit a check.
Shore
The space between the water's edge and the land, especially at high tide.
The tide brought in various shells and debris to the shore.
Bank
A supply or stock held in reserve.
The blood bank is in urgent need of donations.
Shore
A prop or beam used to support a structure.
The shore temporarily held the weight of the ceiling.
Bank
A piled-up mass, as of snow or clouds; a heap
A bank of thunderclouds.
Shore
The land along the edge of a sea, lake, or other large body of water.
We walked along the shore, enjoying the gentle waves.
Bank
A steep natural incline.
Shore
The right or left side of a ship.
The ship was docked, and the crew disembarked from the starboard shore.
Bank
An artificial embankment.
Shore
To support or hold up something with a prop or beam.
They had to shore up the crumbling wall to prevent a collapse.
Bank
The slope of land adjoining a body of water, especially adjoining a river, lake, or channel.
Shore
The land along the edge of an ocean, sea, lake, or river; a coast.
Bank
A large elevated area of a sea floor.
Shore
Often shores Land; country
Far from our native shores.
Bank
(Games) The cushion of a billiard or pool table.
Shore
Land as opposed to water
A sailor with an assignment on shore.
Bank
The lateral inward tilting, as of a motor vehicle or an aircraft, in turning or negotiating a curve.
Shore
A beam or timber propped against a structure to provide support.
Bank
A business establishment in which money is kept for saving or commercial purposes or is invested, supplied for loans, or exchanged.
Shore
To support by or as if by a prop
Shored up the sagging floors.
Shored up the peace initiative.
Bank
The offices or building in which such an establishment is located.
Shore
A past tense of shear.
Bank
The funds of a gambling establishment.
Shore
Land adjoining a non-flowing body of water, such as an ocean, lake or pond.
Bank
The funds held by a dealer or banker in certain games, especially gambling games.
Shore
(from the perspective of one on a body of water) Land, usually near a port.
The seamen were serving on shore instead of in ships.
The passengers signed up for shore tours.
Bank
The reserve pieces, cards, chips, or play money in some games, such as poker, from which the players may draw.
Shore
A prop or strut supporting some structure or weight above it.
The shores stayed upright during the earthquake.
Bank
A supply or stock for future or emergency use
A grain bank.
Shore
(obsolete) To set on shore.
Bank
(Medicine) A supply of human fluids or tissues, such as blood, sperm, or skin, that is stored in a facility for future use.
Shore
Not followed by up: to provide (something) with support.
Bank
A place of safekeeping or storage
A computer's memory bank.
Shore
Usually followed by up: to reinforce (something at risk of failure).
My family shored me up after I failed the GED.
The workers were shoring up the dock after part of it fell into the water.
Bank
A set of elevators.
Shore
To threaten or warn (someone).
Bank
A row of keys on a keyboard.
Shore
To offer (someone).
Bank
A bench for rowers in a galley.
Shore
A sewer.
Bank
A row of oars in a galley.
Shore
A prop, as a timber, placed as a brace or support against the side of a building or other structure; a prop placed beneath anything, as a beam, to prevent it from sinking or sagging.
Bank
(Printing) The lines of type under a headline.
Shore
The coast or land adjacent to a large body of water, as an ocean, lake, or large river.
Michael Cassio,Lieutenant to the warlike Moor Othello,Is come shore.
The fruitful shore of muddy Nile.
Bank
To border or protect with a ridge or embankment.
Shore
To support by a shore or shores; to prop; - usually with up; as, to shore up a building.
Bank
To pile up; amass
Banked earth along the wall.
Shore
To set on shore.
Bank
To cover (a fire), as with ashes or fresh fuel, to ensure continued low burning.
Shore
The land along the edge of a body of water
Bank
To construct with a slope rising to the outside edge
The turns on the racetrack were steeply banked.
Shore
A beam or timber that is propped against a structure to provide support
Bank
To tilt (an aircraft) laterally and inwardly in flight.
Shore
Serve as a shore to;
The river was shored by trees
Bank
To tilt (a motor vehicle) laterally and inwardly when negotiating a curve.
Shore
Arrive on shore;
The ship landed in Pearl Harbor
Bank
(Games) To strike (a billiard ball) so that it rebounds from the cushion of the table.
Shore
Support by placing against something solid or rigid;
Shore and buttress an old building
Bank
(Sports) To play (a ball or puck) in such a way as to make it glance off a surface, such as a backboard or wall.
Bank
To rise in or take the form of a bank.
Bank
To tilt an aircraft or a motor vehicle laterally when turning.
Bank
To deposit in a bank.
Bank
To store for future use.
Bank
To transact business with a bank or maintain a bank account.
Bank
To operate a bank.
Bank
To arrange or set up in a row
"Every street was banked with purple-blooming trees" (Doris Lessing).
Bank
(countable) An institution where one can place and borrow money and take care of financial affairs.
Bank
(countable) A branch office of such an institution.
Bank
(countable) An underwriter or controller of a card game.
Bank
(countable) A fund from deposits or contributions, to be used in transacting business; a joint stock or capital.
Bank
The sum of money etc. which the dealer or banker has as a fund from which to draw stakes and pay losses.
Bank
Money; profit.
Bank
(countable) In certain games, such as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw.
Bank
A safe and guaranteed place of storage for and retrieval of important items or goods.
Blood bank; sperm bank; data bank
Bank
(countable) A device used to store coins or currency.
If you want to buy a bicycle, you need to put the money in your piggy bank.
Bank
(hydrology) An edge of river, lake, or other watercourse.
Bank
An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shallow area of shifting sand, gravel, mud, and so forth (for example, a sandbank or mudbank).
The banks of Newfoundland
Bank
(geography) A slope of earth, sand, etc.; an embankment.
Bank
(aviation) The incline of an aircraft, especially during a turn.
Bank
(rail) An incline, a hill.
Bank
A mass noun for a quantity of clouds.
The bank of clouds on the horizon announced the arrival of the predicted storm front.
Bank
(mining) The face of the coal at which miners are working.
Bank
(mining) A deposit of ore or coal, worked by excavations above water level.
Bank
(mining) The ground at the top of a shaft.
Ores are brought to bank.
Bank
A row or panel of items stored or grouped together.
A bank of switches
A bank of pay phones
Bank
A row of keys on a musical keyboard or the equivalent on a typewriter keyboard.
Bank
(computing) A contiguous block of memory that is of fixed, hardware-dependent size, but often larger than a page and partitioning the memory such that two distinct banks do not overlap.
Bank
(pinball) A set of multiple adjacent drop targets.
Bank
A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.
Bank
A bench or seat for judges in court.
Bank
The regular term of a court of law, or the full court sitting to hear arguments upon questions of law, as distinguished from a sitting at nisi prius, or a court held for jury trials. See banc
Bank
A kind of table used by printers.
Bank
(music) A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ.
Bank
(uncountable) slang for money
Bank
(intransitive) To deal with a bank or financial institution, or for an institution to provide financial services to a client.
He banked with Barclays.
Bank
(transitive) To put into a bank.
I'm going to bank the money.
Bank
To conceal in the rectum for use in prison.
Johnny banked some coke for me.
Bank
To roll or incline laterally in order to turn.
Bank
(transitive) To cause (an aircraft) to bank.
Bank
(transitive) To form into a bank or heap, to bank up.
To bank sand
Bank
(transitive) To cover the embers of a fire with ashes in order to retain heat.
Bank
(transitive) To raise a mound or dike about; to enclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.
Bank
To pass by the banks of.
Bank
To provide additional power for a train ascending a bank (incline) by attaching another locomotive.
Bank
To arrange or order in a row.
Bank
A mound, pile, or ridge of earth, raised above the surrounding level; hence, anything shaped like a mound or ridge of earth; as, a bank of clouds; a bank of snow.
They cast up a bank against the city.
Bank
A steep acclivity, as the slope of a hill, or the side of a ravine.
Bank
The margin of a watercourse; the rising ground bordering a lake, river, or sea, or forming the edge of a cutting, or other hollow.
Tiber trembled underneath her banks.
Bank
An elevation, or rising ground, under the sea; a shoal, shelf, or shallow; as, the banks of Newfoundland.
Bank
The face of the coal at which miners are working.
Bank
The lateral inclination of an aëroplane as it rounds a curve; as, a bank of 45° is easy; a bank of 90° is dangerous.
Bank
A group or series of objects arranged near together; as, a bank of electric lamps, etc.
Bank
The tilt of a roadway or railroad, at a curve in the road, designed to counteract centrifugal forces acting on vehicles moving rapiudly around the curve, thus reducing the danger of overturning during a turn.
Bank
A bench, as for rowers in a galley; also, a tier of oars.
Placed on their banks, the lusty Trojan sweepNeptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep.
Bank
The bench or seat upon which the judges sit.
Bank
A sort of table used by printers.
Bank
A bench, or row of keys belonging to a keyboard, as in an organ.
Bank
An establishment for the custody, loan, exchange, or issue, of money, and for facilitating the transmission of funds by drafts or bills of exchange; an institution incorporated for performing one or more of such functions, or the stockholders (or their representatives, the directors), acting in their corporate capacity.
Bank
The building or office used for banking purposes.
Bank
A fund to be used in transacting business, especially a joint stock or capital.
Let it be no bank or common stock, but every man be master of his own money.
Bank
The sum of money or the checks which the dealer or banker has as a fund, from which to draw his stakes and pay his losses.
Bank
In certain games, as dominos, a fund of pieces from which the players are allowed to draw; in Monopoly, the fund of money used to pay bonuses due to the players, or to which they pay fines.
Bank
A place where something is stored and held available for future use;
Bank
To raise a mound or dike about; to inclose, defend, or fortify with a bank; to embank.
Bank
To heap or pile up; as, to bank sand.
Bank
To pass by the banks of.
Bank
To build (a roadway or railroad) with an inclination at a curve in the road, so as to counteract centrifugal forces acting on vehicles moving rapiudly around the curve, thus reducing the danger of vehicles overturning at a curve; as, the raceway was steeply banked at the curves.
Bank
To deposit in a bank.
Bank
To keep a bank; to carry on the business of a banker.
Bank
To deposit money in a bank; to have an account with a banker.
Bank
To tilt sidewise in rounding a curve; - said of a flying machine, an aërocurve, or the like.
Bank
A financial institution that accepts deposits and channels the money into lending activities;
He cashed a check at the bank
That bank holds the mortgage on my home
Bank
Sloping land (especially the slope beside a body of water);
They pulled the canoe up on the bank
He sat on the bank of the river and watched the currents
Bank
A supply or stock held in reserve for future use (especially in emergencies)
Bank
A building in which commercial banking is transacted;
The bank is on the corner of Nassau and Witherspoon
Bank
An arrangement of similar objects in a row or in tiers;
He operated a bank of switches
Bank
A container (usually with a slot in the top) for keeping money at home;
The coin bank was empty
Bank
A long ridge or pile;
A huge bank of earth
Bank
The funds held by a gambling house or the dealer in some gambling games;
He tried to break the bank at Monte Carlo
Bank
A slope in the turn of a road or track; the outside is higher than the inside in order to reduce the effects of centrifugal force
Bank
A flight maneuver; aircraft tips laterally about its longitudinal axis (especially in turning);
The plane went into a steep bank
Bank
Tip laterally;
The pilot had to bank the aircraft
Bank
Enclose with a bank;
Bank roads
Bank
Do business with a bank or keep an account at a bank;
Where do you bank in this town?
Bank
Act as the banker in a game or in gambling
Bank
Be in the banking business
Bank
Put into a bank account;
She deposites her paycheck every month
Bank
Cover with ashes so to control the rate of burning;
Bank a fire
Bank
Have confidence or faith in;
We can trust in God
Rely on your friends
Bank on your good education
I swear by my grandmother's recipes
Bank
The land along the side of a river or stream.
The kids enjoyed playing on the bank of the river.
Bank
A set or series of similar things grouped together.
A bank of switches controls the lighting in the auditorium.
Bank
The lateral inclination of an aircraft.
The pilot adjusted the bank to navigate through the clouds.
FAQs
Can a bank have vegetation?
Yes, banks can have vegetation and even specific ecosystems.
Is every shore subject to tidal movements?
No, shores of non-tidal bodies of water like lakes are not subject to tidal movements.
Can the term bank refer to financial institutions?
Yes, bank commonly refers to financial institutions that manage money.
Can shore also mean to support a structure?
Yes, to shore can mean to support or hold up something with a prop or beam.
Is the term shore used in ship terminology?
Yes, shore can refer to the sides of a ship, specifically the right or left side.
Is shore specific to oceans and seas?
No, shore can refer to the land along any large body of water, including lakes.
Does bank only refer to natural land formations?
No, bank can also refer to man-made sides of a water channel.
Are shores always sandy?
No, shores can be rocky, pebbly, or have other types of landforms.
Can the shore of a lake be rocky?
Yes, the shore of a lake can be rocky, sandy, or have other characteristics.
Can a bank be artificially created?
Yes, banks can be artificially created or modified for water management.
Is the bank of a river always above water?
No, some parts of a bank can be submerged, especially during high water levels.
Can bank refer to a supply reserve?
Yes, bank can refer to a supply or stock held in reserve, like a blood bank.
Can bank refer to the slope of a turn in road racing?
Yes, in road racing, bank refers to the lateral incline of a road or track.
Does shore include the area under water?
The term shore typically includes the intertidal zone, which is periodically submerged.
Can a bank of clouds refer to weather?
Yes, a bank of clouds refers to a mass of clouds seen together in the sky.
About Author
Written by
Janet WhiteJanet White has been an esteemed writer and blogger for Difference Wiki. Holding a Master's degree in Science and Medical Journalism from the prestigious Boston University, she has consistently demonstrated her expertise and passion for her field. When she's not immersed in her work, Janet relishes her time exercising, delving into a good book, and cherishing moments with friends and family.
Edited by
Harlon MossHarlon is a seasoned quality moderator and accomplished content writer for Difference Wiki. An alumnus of the prestigious University of California, he earned his degree in Computer Science. Leveraging his academic background, Harlon brings a meticulous and informed perspective to his work, ensuring content accuracy and excellence.
