Torrent Meaning
/ˈtɒɹənt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
nounA large amount or stream of something.
Sentence Examples
The cave was toward a torrent.
They bathed in the torrent.
And they digged in the torrent, and found living water.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sudden storm created a ____ that washed away the small bridge.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The heavy rain turned the small stream into a raging ____ that flowed quickly down the steep mountain side today.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French torrent, from Italian torrente, from Latin torrentem, accusative of torrēns (“burning, seething, roaring”), from Latin torrēre (“to parch, scorch”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
""Try not the Pass!" the old man said; / "Dark lowers the tempest overhead, / The roaring torrent is deep and wide!" / And loud that clarion voice replied / Excelsior!"
— 1841 September 28 (date written), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] Excelsior.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1842, →OCLC, stanza 4, page 130:
"Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge."
— 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:
"The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, / The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, / And the highwayman came riding— / Riding—riding— / The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door."
— 1906 August, Alfred Noyes, “The Highwayman”, in Poems, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published October 1906, →OCLC, part 1, stanza I, page 45:
"Western civilization has always taught the repression of emotion […] The emotional torrents of opera rebel against this."
— 1981 December 5, Michael Bronski, “Coming (Out) to Opera”, in Gay Community News, volume 9, number 20, page 6:
"A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen."
— 2011 December 21, Helen Pidd, “Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis”, in the Guardian:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The sudden storm created a ____ that washed away the small bridge.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The heavy rain turned the small stream into a raging ____ that flowed quickly down the steep mountain side today.