Waterfall

//ˈwɔtɚfɔl// name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A flow of water over the edge of a cliff.
  2. 2
    a steep descent of the water of a river wordnet
  3. 3
    A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc. figuratively

    "A waterfall of mist came from the open freezer."

  4. 4
    Short for waterfall model abbreviation, alt-of

    "A very long duration project […] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process."

  5. 5
    The action of drinking from a vessel without touching it with the lips, considered more sanitary for a shared vessel. US, slang

    "Hey man, can I take a waterfall from your bottle?"

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    A necktie. colloquial, dated
  2. 7
    A chignon (hairstyle). colloquial, dated
  3. 8
    A beard. colloquial, dated

    "I found home a dreary place after my long absence; for half the children I had known were now wearing whiskers or waterfalls, […]"

  4. 9
    A kind of handstand with chin tucked and back arched.
Verb
  1. 1
    To fall like a waterfall. intransitive

    "Rain ran off the bill of his fielder's cap and waterfalled in front of his face."

  2. 2
    To drink (something) from a container by pouring it from a height so as not to touch one's lips to the rim. transitive
  3. 3
    Synonym of recycle.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A stylistic art trend for furniture which was popular in the 1930s and 1940s, featuring wooden surfaces and curved edges prominently in its design. historical
  2. 2
    A barangay of Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur, Philippines.
  3. 3
    A barangay of Balingasag, Misamis Oriental, Philippines.
  4. 4
    A barangay of Panabo, Davao del Norte, Philippines.
  5. 5
    A barangay of Kiblawan, Davao del Sur, Philippines.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A barangay of Sulop, Davao del Sur, Philippines.
  2. 7
    A suburb of Sydney in the Sutherland council area, New South Wales, Australia.

Synonyms

All synonyms
fallscascadecascadecatadupecataractcataract

Example

More examples

"There is a waterfall above the bridge."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water + fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).

Etymology 2

See waterfall.

Related phrases

coastal waterfallwaterfall bongwaterfall effectwaterfall illusionwaterfall layoutwaterfall methodwaterfall modelwaterfall plotwaterfall skirtwaterfall stomach

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.