Ripple
name, noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A moving disturbance, or undulation, in the surface of a fluid.
"I dropped a small stone into the pond and watched the ripples spread."
- 2 An implement, with teeth like those of a comb, for removing the seeds and seed vessels from flax, broom corn, etc.
- 3 thripple, cart ladder (extension for cart or wagon) dialectal, historical
- 4 a small wave on the surface of a liquid wordnet
- 5 One of a series of corrugations in flat surface.
"The ebbing tide had left ripples in the sand."
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- 6 (electronics) an oscillation of small amplitude imposed on top of a steady value wordnet
- 7 A sound similar to that of undulating water.
- 8 A style of ice cream in which flavors have been coarsely blended together.
"I enjoy fudge ripple ice cream, but I especially like to dig through the carton to get at the ripple part and eat only that."
- 9 A small oscillation of an otherwise steady signal.
- 10 A small spreading change, impact, or effect produced by a larger or more consequential action. figuratively
"Investments in research, deployment and scaling existing technologies are the initial ripples that will have to build to a groundswell of further action."
- 1 To move like the undulating surface of a body of water; to undulate. intransitive
- 2 To scratch, tear, or break slightly; graze transitive
"An horsemans javelin[…]having slightly rippled the skinne of his left arme, pierced within his short ribs."
- 3 To remove the seeds from (the stalks of flax, etc.), by means of a ripple.
- 4 stir up (water) so as to form ripples wordnet
- 5 To propagate like a moving wave. intransitive
"These problems were complicated by a foreign exchange crunch which rippled through the economy in 1961-1962, […]"
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- 6 flow in an irregular current with a bubbling noise wordnet
- 7 To make a sound as of water running gently over a rough bottom, or the breaking of ripples on the shore. intransitive
- 8 To shape into a series of ripples. transitive
- 9 To launch or unleash in rapid succession. transitive
"Hearns' 'Mech rippled fifteen missiles. Austen watched the missiles go in. They smashed into a copse of trees, smashing the trunks aside."
- 1 A village and civil parish in Dover district, Kent, England (OS grid ref TR3450). countable, uncountable
- 2 A village and civil parish in Malvern Hills district, Worcestershire, England (OS grid ref SO8737). countable, uncountable
- 3 A surname. countable, uncountable
Example
More examples"The French language, by the way, is a clear stream that affected writers have never been, and will never be able to ripple. Each century has thrown in this limpid current its fashions, its pretentious archaisms and its preciousness, without anything surfacing from those useless attempts, those powerless efforts. The nature of this language is to be clear, logical and nervous. It won't let itself be weakened, obscured or corrupted."
Etymology
From an alteration of rimple.
From Middle English *ripelen, repulen, equivalent to rip + -le (frequentative suffix).
Compare German Low German Repel, Dutch repel, German Riffel, extended forms (with instrumental or diminutive -le) of Low German Repe (“ripple”), Dutch repe (“ripple”). Compare also Dutch repen, German reffen, Swedish repa (“to beat; ripple”). The verb is from Middle English ripplen, rypelen. Compare Low German repelen, Dutch repelen, German riffeln.
Dialectal form of thripple.
Related phrases
More for "ripple"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.