water vole

1. 1.

   common large Eurasian vole

   Synonymswater ratArvicola amphibius

   Broadervole

   Part ofArvicola
2. 2.

   of western North America

   SynonymsRichardson voleMicrotus richardsoni

   Broadervole

   Part ofMicrotus

Questions about water vole

What does water vole mean?

water vole means "common large Eurasian vole". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for water vole?

Close synonyms include water rat, Arvicola amphibius, Richardson vole, Microtus richardsoni. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is water vole a common word?

water vole is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.