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cascade

[ kas-keyd ]
/ kæsˈkeɪd /
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See synonyms for: cascade / cascading on Thesaurus.com

noun
verb (used without object), cas·cad·ed, cas·cad·ing.
to fall in or like a cascade.
verb (used with object), cas·cad·ed, cas·cad·ing.
to cause to fall in a cascade.
Electricity. to arrange (components) in a cascade.
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Origin of cascade

1635–45; <French <Italian cascata, equivalent to casc(are) to fall (<Vulgar Latin *cāsicāre, equivalent to cās(us) fallen (past participle of cadere) + -icā- formative v. suffix + -re infinitive ending) + -ata-ade1

OTHER WORDS FROM cascade

cas·cad·er, nounun·cas·cad·ed, adjectiveun·cas·cad·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use cascade in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for cascade

cascade
/ (kæsˈkeɪd) /

noun
verb
(intr) to flow or fall in or like a cascade

Word Origin for cascade

C17: from French, from Italian cascata, from cascare to fall, ultimately from Latin cadere to fall
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

Scientific definitions for cascade

cascade
[ kăs-kād ]

A series of chemical or physiological processes that occur in successive stages, each of which is dependent on the preceding one, to produce a culminating effect. The steps involved in the clotting of blood occur as a cascade.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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