backwash
Americannoun
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Nautical. water thrown backward by the motion of oars, propellers, paddle wheels, etc.
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Aeronautics. the portion of the wash of an aircraft that flows to the rear, usually created by the power plant.
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a condition, usually undesirable, that continues long after the event which caused it.
- Synonyms:
- upshot, result, consequence, aftermath
verb (used with object)
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to affect, as by hitting, rocking, or splashing, with a backwash.
a powerful cutter backwashing the skiers.
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to clean out (a clogged filter) by reversing the flow of fluid.
Backwash the swimming pool's filters regularly.
noun
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a sucking movement of water, such as that of retreating waves Compare swash
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water washed backwards by the motion of oars or other propelling devices
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the backward flow of air set up by an aircraft's engines
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a condition resulting from a previous event; repercussion
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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backwashsimple
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backwashessimple
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have backwashedperfect
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has backwashedperfect
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am backwashingprogressive
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are backwashingprogressive
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is backwashingprogressive
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have been backwashingperfect progressive
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has been backwashingperfect progressive
Past
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backwashedsimple
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had backwashedperfect
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was backwashingprogressive
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were backwashingprogressive
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had been backwashingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of backwash
Vocabulary lists containing backwash
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.
Backwash In a completely different financial league from “Awkward Embraces” and “Jack in a Box” is the strange and heavily promoted serial “Backwash,”currently unspooling on Crackle.com, the Sony online entertainment site.
From New York Times • Dec. 11, 2010
Now no paper could possibly be called "The Backwash."
From Books and Persons Being Comments on a Past Epoch 1908-1911 by Bennett, Arnold
Backwash The wind wash caused by the propeller.
From Aces Up by Clarke, Covington
Every time "The Backwash" is mentioned, the reader thinks: "No paper called 'The Backwash' ever existed."
From Books and Persons Being Comments on a Past Epoch 1908-1911 by Bennett, Arnold
We are witnessing a phase in the evolution of humanity, a phase called War—and the slow, onward progress stirs up the slime in the shallows, and this is the Backwash of War.
From The Backwash of War The Human Wreckage of the Battlefield as Witnessed by an American Hospital Nurse by La Motte, Ellen Newbold
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.
