A shore is the land along the edge of a sea, lake, or large river. It’s where water and land meet.
“Shore” comes from Old English “scora” or “shore,” meaning coast or bank. It’s related to words in other Germanic languages with the same meaning. The basic idea has stayed very stable for over a thousand years.
Shore, coast, and beach are not identical: the shore is the general edge of land and water, the coast is usually sea-facing land, and the beach is the sandy or pebbly part. Knowing this helps you pick the word that fits the picture in your mind. English often has a ‘zoomed-out’ term (shore) and a ‘zoomed-in’ one (beach).
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.