delta Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river divides before entering a larger body of water
    • the Mississippi River delta
    • the Nile delta
  2. noun an object shaped like an equilateral triangle
  3. noun the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet

WordNet

Del"ta noun
Etymology
Gr. , the name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (the capital form of which is Δ, Eng. D), from the Phoenician name of the corresponding letter. The Greeks called the alluvial deposit at the mouth of the Nile, from its shape, the Delta of the Nile.
Wordforms
plural Deltas
Definitions
  1. A tract of land shaped like the letter delta Δ, especially when the land is alluvial and inclosed between two or more mouths of a river; as, the delta of the Ganges, of the Nile, or of the Mississippi.

Webster 1913