Ripple Meaning
/ˈɹɪp(ə)l/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA moving disturbance, or undulation, in the surface of a fluid.
nounOne of a series of corrugations in flat surface.
Sentence Examples
There wasn’t so much as a ripple on the water.
Adriano watched the wind make the grass ripple like waves.
CEFR Practice Quiz
A small stone thrown into the pond created a ____ that spread outward in circles.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A single stone thrown into the still pond sent a ____ spreading outward across the surface.
Word Origin & History
From an alteration of rimple.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"What seamen call the "ripples" are also very violent in the straits, the sea appearing to boil and foam and dance like the rapids below a cataract; vessels are swept about helplessly, and small ones are occasionally swamped in the finest weather and under the brightest skies."
— 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 239:
"Ripples in the water betray the presence of the fish waiting for a chance to pounce on the insects skirting over the water."
— 2009, Helen Oon, “New Territories”, in Hong Kong (Globetrotters Travel Guide), New Holland Publishers, →ISBN, page 80:
"Investments in research, deployment and scaling existing technologies are the initial ripples that will have to build to a groundswell of further action."
— 2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian:
"These problems were complicated by a foreign exchange crunch which rippled through the economy in 1961-1962, […]"
— 2008, Bradley Simpson, Economists with Guns, page 65:
"Hearns' 'Mech rippled fifteen missiles. Austen watched the missiles go in. They smashed into a copse of trees, smashing the trunks aside."
— 2019, Jason M. Hardy, Phaedra M. Weldon, Herbert A. Beas II, BattleTech: Weapons Free: BattleCorps Anthology, Volume 3:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
A small stone thrown into the pond created a ____ that spread outward in circles.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A single stone thrown into the still pond sent a ____ spreading outward across the surface.