rivulet
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of rivulet
1580–90; earlier rivolet < Italian rivoletto, diminutive of rivolo < Latin rīvulus small stream
Explanation
A rivulet is a small stream. A rivulet is to a river as a baby is to an adult. There are several ways to remember this word. One is the similarity of its sound to "river." Another is the suffix -let, which indicates small things. For example, a piglet is a small pig or baby pig. A 300-pound pig probably wouldn't drown in a tiny rivulet, but a piglet should stay clear. Another word for rivulet is streamlet.
Vocabulary lists containing rivulet
"The Ravine," Vocabulary from the short story
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Hatchet
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Touching Spirit Bear
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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.
Rivulet back when MacAdams began writing the most important poem in the city’s history.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2023
Oscar Shafer, the chairman of Rivulet Capital, recommended Hertz, citing the consolidation in the rental car company.
From New York Times • May 10, 2013
Rivulet, riv′ū-let, n. a small stream, brook: a geometrid moth.—adj.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various
She is young as the Brownies count years, and was born "at sea," that is, upon the Lake Katrine of Brownieland, through which flows the Rivulet at the foot of the Orchard.
From Old Farm Fairies: A Summer Campaign In Brownieland Against King Cobweaver's Pixies by McCook, Henry Christopher
The Country which is really very agreeable, is water'd with a Rivulet full of Fish, and abounds with Roots as big as red Beet, which are very good when well boil'd.
From The Travels and Adventures of James Massey by Patot, Simon Tyssot de
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.
