cresting
Americannoun
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Architecture. a decorative coping, balustrade, etc., usually designed to give an interesting skyline.
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Furniture. ornamentation either carved or sawed in the top rail of a piece or else added to it.
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a system of ornamental ridges or flutes on a piece of plate armor.
noun
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an ornamental ridge along the top of a roof, wall, etc
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carpentry a shaped decorative toprail or horizontal carved ornament surmounting a chair, mirror, etc
Etymology
Origin of cresting
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.
A subtle wave of shame rises — small but persistent — cresting as you imagine your child saying, or your partner thinking, “We’re having this again?”
From Salon • Jan. 31, 2026
New data-center designs are cresting one gigawatt in power consumption, the entire capacity of a nuclear reactor.
From Barron's • Dec. 31, 2025
In further clips, that small cloud gets darker and flames can later be seen cresting over the hilltop.
From BBC • Jan. 16, 2025
That claim is largely true, and it has been for years, even as millions more retirees are on the road because of the cresting boomer wave.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 5, 2024
“And if ye two stay on past this first cresting of the orchards, there’ll be a-schooling for ye to do.”
From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness
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.
