Coming to Terms
Coming to Terms is the Internet of Water Coalition’s Water Terminology Collection. Developed by the Nicholas Insitute Water Policy Program, this tool tracks definitions, synonyms, and homonyms of water-related terms used by public agencies.
Coming to Terms
A tool that promotes a shared vocabulary of water terminology and tracks definitions, synonyms, and homonyms of water-related terms. This tool is open-source, so anyone can contribute! We hope you will consider contributing your agency’s water terminology.
Why do we need a water terminology collection?
Public agencies and private entities can use the same word to mean different things or use multiple words to mean the same thing. As data becomes more integrated, it is increasingly more important to understand the terms and definitions describing data in order to ensure data pulled from multiple agencies are put to correct use.
Synonyms
Synonyms are different terms
with similar definitions.
Example: “Car” and “Automobile”
Homonym
Homonyms are like terms
with different definitions.
Example: Toboggan (sled) and Toboggan (hat)
Shared Vocabularies
Through this application, we aim to provide access to the vocabularies used by Federal, State, Tribal, Local, and private entities engaged in water management, science, and use.
Water Terminology Entries
