a current at variance with the main current in a stream of liquid or gas, especially one having a rotary or whirling motion.
a small whirlpool.
any similar current, as of air, dust, or fog.
a current or trend, as of opinion or events, running counter to the main current.
a movement in a stream of air, water, or other fluid in which the current doubles back on itself causing a miniature whirlwind or whirlpool
a deviation from or disturbance in the main trend of thought, life, etc, esp one that is relatively unimportant
A current, as of water or air, moving in a direction that is different from that of the main current. Eddies generally involve circular motion; unstable patterns of eddies are often called turbulence.
See also vortex
1425–75; late Middle English; Old English ed- turning + ēa water; akin to Old Norse itha
An eddy is a whirlpool — what you stare at as a kid when the water is draining out of the bathtub. Pronounced exactly like the name, “Eddie,” this word means to swirl in a direction opposite of the current. Any substance like water, fog, smoke, or air can create an eddy, but it is most commonly seen as a term related to water. Books from the "flapper" era of the 1920s often include a description of a nightclub with "an eddy of cigarette smoke above a woman’s head."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In one part of the conveyor system, a vibrating panel called an eddy current creates a sort of reverse magnet that repels nonferrous materials like aluminum beverage cans into their own collection area.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
They can’t recreate every wind puff and ocean eddy, so they divide the world into a 3-D grid and generate myriad variables for each box, from soil temperature to ocean salinity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
Temperature data from satellites and buoys revealed a large southbound eddy moving through the region, coupled with 4 days of strong easterly winds, fueled strong upwelling.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 15, 2024
The group of scientists wondered if it was possible to make, and hold, medium-size eddies -- neither one big eddy, nor smaller and smaller ones.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024
The current carried a drifting leaf into a little eddy.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
The 27-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider crossed the line on Paris' Champs-Elysees in the peloton, to join Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain as the endurance event's most successful male riders.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Pogacar, 27, is aiming to become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour's history with five wins, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
“Maybe an uncle can help talk things through, or a therapist,” Eddy said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“The time to play offense is now,” said Chief Executive Bob Eddy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
“We’re going to the Eddy for chub,” the first said.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
It happens through a combination of eddies, mixing, rotation and friction close to land.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“It’s a little bit like if you're kayaking in a river, and there's rocks underneath the water, sometimes there's eddies in the surface, which can tell you about the rocks under the water,” explained Ockenden.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
The sources of our malaise are deeper than the shallow eddies of fashion and entertainment in “Blank Space.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
But as it pushes up against the continental shelf, it can generate eddies, much like the revolving pools of water that form on the downstream sides of boulders in a river.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 15, 2024
It narrowed again and put a few rocks in your way and a few eddies to swirl you around and then maybe a sandbar to stop you short.
From "Ruby Holler" by Sharon Creech
A hot wind eddied and swirled, and I listened as Marcio Morais, a herb merchant, explained how his grandpa, who was raised in the jungle, taught him to harvest herbs.
From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2016
“You felt you were escaping the city when you went to 10th Avenue,” he said, retracing his steps as tourists eddied around him.
From New York Times ● Jun. 1, 2016
All around, the floor had grown treacherous from the slippery fallen gold, which eddied into corners, like piles of leaves.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2015
On the way back we saw the beggar's body, quite still, with head and shoulders grotesquely protruding into the street while pedestrians and rickshas eddied around him.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was on her knees, struggling to shove the mattress into the flames as thick grey smoke eddied around her and filled the room, when the door burst open and she heard her maid gasp.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Its ambiguities and enigmas add up to not more eddying confusions but to a stark reminder that the only reasonable response to grief is “life life life.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2022
The crowds mostly kept a respectful distance but in sight of the gate, eddying like pilgrims gathered around a shrine, only breaking their vigil to watch a plane arc slowly by.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2021
If you let go of any expectations of linear progression, it’s pretty easy to lose yourself happily in the eddying rapids of Mr. Daisey’s endless flow of anecdote and reflection.
From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2013
But the highlight was an impossibly sustained high harmonic, eddying above distant turbulence from the timpani.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 3, 2013
My eyes were covered and closed: eddying darkness seemed to swim round me, and reflection came in as black and confused a flow.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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.
