- present participle of flow.
flowing
Americanadjective
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moving in or as in a stream.
flowing water.
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proceeding smoothly or easily; facile.
flowing language.
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long, smooth, graceful, and without sudden interruption or change of direction.
flowing lines; flowing gestures.
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hanging loosely at full length.
flowing hair.
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abounding; having in excess.
a land flowing with milk and honey.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of flowing
before 950; Middle English flowynge, Old English flōwende. See flow, -ing 2
Explanation
Anything flowing moves like liquid, such as the flowing water of a river or someone’s long, flowing hair. Even a conversation can be flowing if people have a lot to say to each other. The adjective flowing is useful for describing things that drape gracefully, like Rapunzel's flowing hair or Cinderella's flowing gown. The sleek and streamlined movements of a ballet dancer might also be called flowing, and so can particularly graceful writing: "The poet's flowing lines beautifully evoked a summer afternoon." Flowing comes from flow, from a root meaning "to stream, melt, or become liquid."
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.
Optimism is still not exactly flowing through the group though, despite various attempts to scale the poles in Kilmarnock.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
Economists and industry analysts say that even after oil starts flowing again from the Middle East, it could take a while for the Iran war’s effects on consumer prices to recede.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026
It can also delay payments and investment and use its long established sanctions evasion networks to keep trade flowing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
Infrastructure investments have an important GDP multiplier effect that can foster significant economic growth by keeping basic services available and flowing, Cliquet said.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
I can see it now: she’s wearing a flower-print dress, running through a field of wheat, her shiny strawberry-blond hair flowing behind her.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
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.
