bounce

[ bouns ]

/ baʊns /

Save This Word!

See synonyms for: bounce / bouncing on Thesaurus.com

verb (used without object), bounced, bounc·ing.

to spring back from a surface in a lively manner: The ball bounced off the wall.

to strike the ground or other surface, and rebound: The ball bounced once before he caught it.

to move or walk in a lively, exuberant, or energetic manner: She bounced into the room.

to move along in a lively manner, repeatedly striking the surface below and rebounding: The box bounced down the stairs.

to move about or enter or leave noisily or angrily (followed by around, about, out, out of, into, etc.): He bounced out of the room in a huff.

(of a check or the like) to fail to be honored by the bank against which it was drawn, due to lack of sufficient funds.

verb (used with object), bounced, bounc·ing.

to cause to bound and rebound: to bounce a ball; to bounce a child on one's knee; to bounce a signal off a satellite.

to refuse payment on (a check) because of insufficient funds: The bank bounced my rent check.

to give (a bad check) as payment: That's the first time anyone bounced a check on me.

Slang. to eject, expel, or dismiss summarily or forcibly.

noun

a bound or rebound: to catch a ball on the first bounce.

a sudden spring or leap: In one bounce he was at the door.

ability to rebound; resilience: This tennis ball has no more bounce.

vitality; energy; liveliness: There is bounce in his step. This soda water has more bounce to it.

the fluctuation in magnitude of target echoes on a radarscope.

Slang. a dismissal, rejection, or expulsion: He's gotten the bounce from three different jobs.

adverb

with a bounce; suddenly.

Verb Phrases

bounce back, to recover quickly: After losing the first game of the double-header, the team bounced back to win the second.

OTHER WORDS FOR bounce

14 animation, vivacity, life, spirit, pep, vigor, zip.

See synonyms for bounce on Thesaurus.com

QUIZ

ALL IN FAVO(U)R OF THIS BRITISH VS. AMERICAN ENGLISH QUIZ

There's an ocean of difference between the way people speak English in the US vs. the UK. Are your language skills up to the task of telling the difference? Let's find out!

Question 1 of 7

True or false? British English and American English are only different when it comes to slang words.

true

false

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of bounce

1175–1225; Middle English buncin,bounsen, variant of bunkin, apparently cognate with Dutch bonken to thump, belabor, bonzen to knock, bump

OTHER WORDS FROM bounce

bounce·a·ble, adjectivebounce·a·bly, adverb

Words nearby bounce

Boult, boulter, Boulton, Boumedienne, boun, bounce, bounce around, bounceback, bouncebackability, bounced flash, bouncedown

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bounce in a sentence

When the economy is in recession, as we are now, the bounce-back takes, on average, 30 months.
The Fed’s bearish outlook puts the global stocks rally on pause|Bernhard Warner|August 20, 2020|Fortune
When you see a planet, such as Mars or Saturn, you’re really only seeing light from the sun that is bouncing off the planet.
Explainer: Stars and their families|Ken Croswell|August 18, 2020|Science News For Students
Which is hard to say about an a-list that you might have suspected couldn’t have bounced any higher.
The Best Streaming Shows Quarantine Has to Offer|Joshua Eferighe|August 14, 2020|Ozy
In the Atari game Breakout, for instance, a player guides a paddle to bounce a ball at a ceiling of bricks, trying to break as many as possible.
DeepMind’s Newest AI Programs Itself to Make All the Right Decisions|Jason Dorrier|July 26, 2020|Singularity Hub

Predicting the fourth quarter is even more difficult — in part because a bounce back in the economy is so dependent on Americans’ willingness to resume ordinary life.
Economists Think Congress Should Keep Paying Unemployed Workers $600 A Week — Or Even More|Neil Paine (neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com)|July 21, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
The whole idea was to be a stone wall and just let everyone else bounce off us.
Street Harassment Shouldn’t Be a Crime|Lizzie Crocker|October 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The gosling's best chance at surviving the jump is to bounce off the cliff on its soft belly.
Barnacle Gosling’s Death-Defying Cliff Dive|Alex Chancey, The Daily Beast Video|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Over the next three months, The Big Bounce was rejected by eighty-four publishers and film producers.
Elmore Leonard’s Rocky Road to Fame and Fortune|Mike Lupica|September 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
“We were living month to month on Hurst money, and I was writing The Big Bounce,” he says.
Elmore Leonard’s Rocky Road to Fame and Fortune|Mike Lupica|September 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In contrast, word that Ebola might be sexually transmitted would likely bounce very differently.
Ebola Might Be Sexually Transmitted|Kent Sepkowitz|September 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Jack Carlson entered the room a moment later, walking with the energetic bounce of a busy man.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various
They loved to slide down a bank where one rock jutted out, for then they had a big bounce.
Stories the Iroquois Tell Their Children|Mabel Powers
It proved to be a declaration of war, quite formal, but with some variations that really made you bounce.
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25)|Robert Louis Stevenson
Fuller says that they were terribly jolted, and seemed to bounce altogether from the track, but lighted on the rails in safety.
Famous Adventures And Prison Escapes of the Civil War|Various
W'en Brer Rabbit year 'im comin' he bounce 'roun' in dar same ez a flea in a piller-case, but 't aint do no good.
Nights With Uncle Remus|Joel Chandler Harris

British Dictionary definitions for bounce

bounce

/ (baʊns) /

verb

(intr) (of an elastic object, such as a ball) to rebound from an impact

(tr) to cause (such an object) to hit a solid surface and spring back

to rebound or cause to rebound repeatedly

to move or cause to move suddenly, excitedly, or violently; springshe bounced up from her chair

slang (of a bank) to send (a cheque) back or (of a cheque) to be sent back unredeemed because of lack of funds in the drawer's account

(of an internet service provider) to send (an email message) back or (of an email message) to be sent back to the sender, for example because the recipient's email account is full

(tr) slang to force (a person) to leave (a place or job); throw out; eject

(tr) British to hustle (a person) into believing or doing something

noun

the action of rebounding from an impact

a leap; jump; bound

the quality of being able to rebound; springiness

informal vitality; vigour; resilience

British swagger or impudence

informal a temporary increase or rise

the bounce Australian rules football the start of play at the beginning of each quarter or after a goal

get the bounce or give the bounce US informal to dismiss or be dismissed from a job

on the bounce informal in succession; one after the otherthey have lost nine games on the bounce

Word Origin for bounce

C13: probably of imitative origin; compare Low German bunsen to beat, Dutch bonken to thump

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with bounce

bounce

In addition to the idioms beginning with bounce

bounce around
bounce back

also see:

get the ax (bounce)
more bounce for the ounce
that's how the ball bounces

bounce

OTHER WORDS FOR bounce

Origin of bounce

OTHER WORDS FROM bounce

Words nearby bounce

Words related to bounce

How to use bounce in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bounce

Word Origin for bounce

Other Idioms and Phrases with bounce