1. the gradual retreat or withdrawal of water from land, leaving it permanently exposed
Usage: legal; geological
2. land that becomes permanently exposed when water recedes
Usage: legal; property law

Examples

• The reliction of the lake created new property boundaries for the landowners.
• After years of drought, reliction exposed previously submerged areas of the reservoir.
• The legal dispute centered on ownership rights to the reliction left by the retreating river.
• Geologists studied the reliction to understand historical water levels.
• The reliction process gradually revealed ancient artifacts buried beneath the water.
• Property surveys had to be updated to account for the reliction along the shoreline.