Coast

The coast of Libya

The coast is wherever land meets the sea.

The coast also means the land next to the sea, which can also be called the shore, or sea-shore. However, coast is not used to describe where rivers or lakes meet the land - it is only used to describe the sea meeting the land.

If a house is near to the coast we say it is "on the coast". When we talk about a long part of the coast we call it "the coast-line". Sometimes, 'coast' can be part of a place name or the description of a large area. For instance, the East Coast of the United States describes the all of the Eastern side of the United States that is next to the Atlantic Ocean.

In some countries like England or Australia the people sometimes use the word sea-side for the coast.

Coasts often have many living things living there and provide habitat for many animals and plants.

Coast of Boa Vista

An example of a coast in Great Britain is the Holderness Coast near Bridlington. This is one of Europe's fast eroding coasts.

Coast Media

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  Sunrise on the Jersey Shore coastline at Spring Lake, New Jersey, U.S. The coastal waters of the Northeast megalopolis constitute one of the fastest-warming urban ocean shorelines in the world.

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  Rugged coastline of the West Coast Region of New Zealand

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  Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa.

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  Atlantic rocky coastline, showing a surf area. Porto Covo, west coast of Portugal

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  Seaside in Budelli, Italy. Budelli beach is famous for the color of its sand, which is pink due to the presence of fragments of a microorganism called Miniacina miniacea.

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  Aerial view of densely populated Long Beach, New York and environs on the South Shore of Long Island, U.S., as seen from the west-by-southwest

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  Paddy fields by the coast of Fengbin, Hualien, Taiwan

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  Amalfi Coast, Italy, attracts international tourists of all classes annually and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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  The Cinque Terre, along the Italian Riviera

Related pages

• Shore