brook
noun
a small, natural stream of fresh water.
brook
1 American
[brook]
/ brʊk /
noun
brooks
plural
brook
2
American
[brook]
/ brʊk /
verb (used with object)
brooks,
present (3rd person singular)
brooked,
past participle, past
brooking
present participle
Brook
1
British
/ brʊk /
noun
brook
2
British
/ brʊk /
noun
brook
3
British
/ brʊk /
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
brooksimple
-
brookssimple
-
have brookedperfect
-
has brookedperfect
-
am brookingprogressive
-
are brookingprogressive
-
is brookingprogressive
-
have been brookingperfect progressive
-
has been brookingperfect progressive
Past
-
brookedsimple
-
had brookedperfect
-
was brookingprogressive
-
were brookingprogressive
-
had been brookingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of brook1
before 900; Middle English; Old English brōc stream; cognate with Dutch broek, German Bruch marsh
Origin of brook2
before 900; Middle English brouken, Old English brūcan; cognate with Dutch bruiken, German brauchen; akin to Gothic brukjan, Latin fruī to enjoy
Explanation
A brook is a small stream. On a hot day, you might enjoy wading in a babbling brook. As a verb, brook is a rather stuffy word for "put up with." The lord of the manor might say, "I will brook no trespassing on my land." Brook is tailor-made for talking about what you won't stand for — it's always "brook no..." If you brook no criticism of your friend, it means you won't let people speak ill of her. If you brook no brooks, it means you've developed a bizarre hatred of streams and will spend the rest of your days trying to avoid them.
Vocabulary lists containing brook
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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.
As we climbed the terraced pools of the West Kill, I concentrated on keeping my cast short and precise until I caught my first brook trout, or “brookie.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 5, 2026
Large-scale protests are rare in Vietnam, where the communist authorities brook little dissent.
From Barron's • Jun. 24, 2026
People kept stopping to talk to him, although they mostly made small murmuring noises, like the fake brook that runs through a suburban shopping center.
From Salon • Sep. 14, 2025
Mr Lister told Radio Wales Breakfast he often visited the brook as it is a good spot for photographing wildlife in the area.
From BBC • Aug. 30, 2025
Because I knew as long as I was with Mama and Daddy and I was near the mountain and the orchard and the brook, everything would work out.
From "Ida B" by Katherine Hannigan
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.
