ripple

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“
It lay sleeping nearly two fathoms below the sea, like a grim giant in repose, and not a ripple was there to tell of the presence of the mariner's enemy The sun was rising, and its slanting beams fell on the hulls of the vessels engaged in the service, which lay at anchor at a short distance from each other.

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Definitions (31)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. intransitive verb To form or display little undulations or waves on the surface, as disturbed water does.
  2. intransitive verb To flow with such undulations or waves on the surface.
  3. intransitive verb To rise and fall gently in tone or volume.
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Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

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Examples (50)

  • Expelled - that will make nary a ripple, a quixotic attempt to get Gonzalez tenure that will fail (and result in his being condemned to teach in some place like Liberty University), and the non-appearance of the five desired items above. —  ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
  • Mr. Polka said his constituency needs to translate into easy-to-understand terms the ripple effects of higher retransmission consent fees. —  TVBizwire
  • Mako Yamakura: Buckle up, the ripple is coming to productivity in business from construction work. —  detnews.com - Local
  • On the golf course, the flags barely made a ripple, which is rare. —  ESPN.com
  • We select the output capacitor so that half the output ripple is a function of the capacitance, and half is a function of the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the capacitor. —  EE Times-Asia
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Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

murmur ·  flicker ·  surge ·  wave ·  swirl ·  shiver ·  splash ·  trickle ·  twinge ·  gasp ·  roar ·  flash

Used in the same contextWord Family

ripple:   ripples ·  rippled ·  rippling

Etymologies (8)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English ripplen, to wrinkle, crease, perhaps of Scandinavian origin.
  2. Middle English, from *ripelen, to remove seeds; akin to Middle Low German repelen.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. Early modern English or dial. also reeple, riple; = Dutch repel = Middle Low German repel, Low German repel, reppel, a ripple, = Old High German rifilā, a saw, Middle High German riffel, a ripple, hoe, German riffel, a ripple (German riffel, rüffel, a reproof, literally a ‘combing over,’ is from the verb); with formative -le (-el, equivalent to -er), denoting an agent (as in ladle, stopple, beetle, etc.), and equivalent to the simple form Middle Dutch Middle Low German Low German repe, a ripple, from the verb represented by Middle Dutch, Dutch repen = Middle Low German repen, Low German repen, reppen = German reffen, beat or ripple (flax), = Swedish repa (cf. Middle High German reffen, pluck, pick, a secondary form of raffen, pluck, snatch, = English rap); prob. connected with rap, but in part at least associated with rip, v. Hence ripple, v.
  2. from Middle English ripplen, rypelen = Dutch repelen = Middle Low German repelen, Low German repeln = Middle High German rifeln, G. riffeln, ripple (flax); from the noun: see ripple, n.
  3. from Middle English *ripelen, repulen; diminutive or freq. (prob. confused with ripple): see rip.
  4. A modern variant of rimple, wrinkle, due apparently to confusion with rip, ripple: see rimple.
  5. from ripple, v.
  6. Origin obscure.
 

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/ˈrɪpl/
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