cascade

American  

[kas-kayd] / kæsˈkeɪd /

noun

• cascades
  plural

1. a waterfall descending over a steep, rocky surface.

2. a series of shallow or steplike waterfalls, either natural or artificial.

3. anything that resembles a waterfall, especially in seeming to flow or fall in abundance.

   a cascade of roses covering the wall.

4. (in a drain or sewer) a chain of steps for dissipating the momentum of falling water in a steep place in order to maintain a steady rate of flow.

5. an arrangement of a lightweight fabric in folds falling one over another in random or zigzag fashion.

6. a type of firework resembling a waterfall in effect.

7. Chemistry. a series of vessels, from each of which a fluid successively overflows to the next, thus presenting a large absorbing surface, as to a gas.

8. Electricity. an arrangement of component devices, as electrolytic cells, each of which feeds into the next in succession.

9. Biochemistry. a series of reactions catalyzed by enzymes that are activated sequentially by successive products of the reactions, resulting in an amplification of the initial response.

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verb (used without object)

• cascades,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cascaded,
  past participle,  past
• cascading
  present participle

1. to fall in or like a cascade.

verb (used with object)

• cascades,
  present (3rd person singular)
• cascaded,
  past participle,  past
• cascading
  present participle

1. to cause to fall in a cascade.

2. Electricity. to arrange (components) in a cascade.

cascade British  

/ kæsˈkeɪd /

noun

1. a waterfall or series of waterfalls over rocks

2. something resembling this, such as folds of lace

3. 1. a consecutive sequence of chemical or physical processes

   2. ( as modifier )

      cascade liquefaction

4. 1. a series of stages in the processing chain of an electrical signal where each operates the next in turn

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cascade amplifier

5. the cumulative process responsible for the formation of an electrical discharge, cosmic-ray shower, or Geiger counter avalanche in a gas

6. the sequence of spontaneous decays by an excited atom or ion

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verb

1. (intr) to flow or fall in or like a cascade

cascade Scientific  

/ kăs-kād′ /

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cascader
  noun
• uncascaded
  adjective
• uncascading
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• cascades
  plural

Participles

• cascading
  present
• cascaded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• cascade
  simple
• cascades
  simple
• have cascaded
  perfect
• has cascaded
  perfect
• am cascading
  progressive
• are cascading
  progressive
• is cascading
  progressive
• have been cascading
  perfect progressive
• has been cascading
  perfect progressive

Past

• cascaded
  simple
• had cascaded
  perfect
• was cascading
  progressive
• were cascading
  progressive
• had been cascading
  perfect progressive

Future

• will cascade
  simple
• will have cascaded
  perfect
• will be cascading
  progressive
• will have been cascading
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of cascade

First recorded in 1635–45; from French, from Italian cascata, from casc(are) “to fall” (from Vulgar Latin cāsicāre (unrecorded), from cās(us) “fallen,” past participle of cadere “to fall”; cf. cadenza, case ¹) + -ata -ade ¹

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Explanation

Think of a cascade as something suddenly falling, tumbling down in a rush. The word cascade conjures up a vision of anything falling in a manner resembling a waterfall — think of a cascade of shining hair, a sudden cascade of tears, or the cascade of light during a meteor shower. The idea behind the word is of something falling in a progressive manner or a series of steps. A downward progression of musical themes can be called a cascade, as can the disastrous cascade of the tumbling price of a stock on Wall Street.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cascade cascades cascaded cascading

Critics of full-body scans, meanwhile, view them as unnecessary, citing low clinical yield and a cascade of follow-up scans.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

How such an attack would cascade through civilian networks remains uncertain.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

Shawna Dawson Beer, a longtime Altadena advocate, was glad this latest review acknowledged that it was “not just a chaotic night, ... but a cascade of failures.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026

The team evaluated each possible cascade using three measures: how frequently the first medication was prescribed, how often a second medication followed it, and how strongly the two prescriptions appeared to be connected.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

Cupboards were dangerous to open because clothes and books and shoes would cascade down and some of his books were heavy enough to inflict real damage.

From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy

That process allowed the researchers to identify 24 potentially inappropriate prescribing cascades that were both commonly observed in the population and had the potential to cause harm.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026

When the fine-jewelry company Brilliant Earth sought a Reddit strategy manager to shape its presence in conversation “that cascades across search engines, LLMs, and customer decision-making,” for example, an alarm went off at r/jewelry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

On the kitchen walls, the “Lauenstein Yellow” tile cascades down into polychrome patterns.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

"The longer it goes on, that kind of cascades into much bigger problems, particularly if there's not enough oil in general to run stuff."

From Barron's ● May 6, 2026

It comes undone and cascades down her back.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez

Everything on the kitchen shelves cascaded to the floor; bowls and glasses shattered.

From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026

That risk has roiled Wall Street in recent days as a tech selloff has cascaded from software providers to chip firms to other companies linked to the data-center build-out.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026

The loss ended in suitably ugly fashion for Tottenham as their frustrated players became embroiled in a clash with Villa after the final whistle as boos cascaded from the stands.

From Barron's ● Jan. 10, 2026

This approach relies on cascaded second-harmonic generation within nonlinear crystals, producing UV-C pulses that last only femtoseconds, less than 1 trillionth of a second.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 7, 2026

Lydia’s hair cascaded across his chest, forming tributaries and estuaries.

From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner

Much of Nepal's hydropower infrastructure lies along steep river valleys fed by glaciers -- terrain exposed to floods, landslides and cascading geological hazards.

From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026

Los Angeles County uses a network of 27 spreading grounds, where artificial basins fill up when storms send torrents cascading down from the mountains into the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2026

Higher oil costs—and tighter supplies—are now cascading through the automobile-service industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026

At the same time, warming is destabilising permafrost - permanently frozen ground that can thaw as temperatures rise - and high mountain slopes, increasing the possibility of cascading hazards, the report says.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026

In the stairwell, the floors and stairs below were a white-water river, a vortex of cascading waves.

From "Hollow City" by Ransom Riggs

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