ebb
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
verb
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(of tide water) to flow back or recede Compare flow
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to fall away or decline
noun
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the flowing back of the tide from high to low water or the period in which this takes place
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( as modifier ) Compare flood
the ebb tide
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in a state or period of weakness, lack of vigour, or decline
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has ebbedperfect 3rd person singular
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have ebbedperfect
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has been ebbingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are ebbingprogressive
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am ebbingprogressive 1st person singular
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is ebbingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been ebbingperfect progressive
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ebbssingular 3rd person
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ebbingparticiple
Past
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had ebbedperfect
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were ebbingprogressive plural
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was ebbingprogressive singular
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ebbedsimple
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had been ebbingperfect progressive
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ebbedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of ebb
before 1000; (noun) Middle English eb ( be ), Old English ebba; cognate with Old Frisian ebba, Dutch eb ( be ), German Ebbe ebb, Old Norse efja place where water backs up; (v.) Middle English ebben, Old English ebbian, derivative of the noun; akin to off
Explanation
When something ebbs, it is declining, falling, or flowing away. The best time to look for sea creatures in tidal pools is when the tide is on the ebb — meaning it has receded from the shore. Ebb is often used in the phrase, "ebb and flow," referring to the cyclical changing of the tides from low to high and back to low again. This sense of cyclical change can also be applied to other things. If you want to make money investing, you have to weather the ebb and flow of the stock market.
Vocabulary lists containing ebb
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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List 5
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Seas The Day: Words That Shore Are Beachy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The EBB site warns that applicants “must not obtain a permit or begin retrofit construction work before being accepted into the program;” otherwise, they will be declared ineligible.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 28, 2021
Writers are not always mutually supportive, but I think we always were at EBB.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 21, 2013
In total, Robert claims, seven people showed up for the reading, including his publisher’s paid escort, two staff members of EBB, him, me and a homeless guy with a backpack.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 21, 2013
So, AVB, with apologies to EBB, who did after all publish her poem in a collection called Sonnets from the Portuguese, how does WHL love thee?
From The Guardian • Oct. 13, 2012
EBB on with me across the sunset tide And float beyond the waters of the world, The light of evening slipping from my side, Thy softened voice in waves of silence furled.
From Anthology of Massachusetts Poets by Braithwaite, William Stanley
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
