ebb
Americannoun
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ebbs
plural
verb (used without object)
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ebbs,
present (3rd person singular)
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ebbed,
past participle, past
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ebbing
present participle
verb
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(of tide water) to flow back or recede Compare flow
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to fall away or decline
noun
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-
the flowing back of the tide from high to low water or the period in which this takes place
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( as modifier ) Compare flood
the ebb tide
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in a state or period of weakness, lack of vigour, or decline
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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ebbsimple
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ebbssimple
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have ebbedperfect
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has ebbedperfect
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am ebbingprogressive
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are ebbingprogressive
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is ebbingprogressive
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have been ebbingperfect progressive
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has been ebbingperfect progressive
Past
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ebbedsimple
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had ebbedperfect
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was ebbingprogressive
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were ebbingprogressive
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had been ebbingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ebb
before 1000; (noun) Middle English eb ( be ), Old English ebba; cognate with Old Frisian ebba, Dutch eb ( be ), German Ebbe ebb, Old Norse efja place where water backs up; (v.) Middle English ebben, Old English ebbian, derivative of the noun; akin to off
Explanation
When something ebbs, it is declining, falling, or flowing away. The best time to look for sea creatures in tidal pools is when the tide is on the ebb — meaning it has receded from the shore. Ebb is often used in the phrase, "ebb and flow," referring to the cyclical changing of the tides from low to high and back to low again. This sense of cyclical change can also be applied to other things. If you want to make money investing, you have to weather the ebb and flow of the stock market.
Vocabulary lists containing ebb
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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.
See Examples For:
Then again, the company’s earnings might be at their low ebb.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
Evidence of a connection has remained elusive however, as El Niño is notoriously variable, making it difficult to distinguish long-term changes from its natural ebb and flow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026
The German men's national team is currently at its lowest ebb in decades, having failed to reach the last 16 at the past three World Cups.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Indeed, if demand for memory should ebb before supply contracts expire, those will likely be renegotiated or extended.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
There may have been others on the bank and in the space behind them, but they would have washed away with the ebb and flow of the tide.
From "Tiger Boy" by Mitali Perkins
As workloads mount and job security ebbs, employees are logging in on Sundays to tackle unfinished tasks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2026
“This means higher economic volatility and a more reactive monetary policy environment as inflation ebbs and flows,” they added.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 24, 2026
“Game to game, even minute to minute, half to half, it ebbs and flows,” captain Tim Ream said of momentum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2026
Of course, the popularity or otherwise of all parties ebbs and flows over time, and as recently as the 2017 general election Labour and the Conservatives managed 82.4% of the vote between them.
From BBC ● May 3, 2026
But this relief soon ebbs: for someone who’s so smelly, Teeth is hard to track.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
In his two-decade career, Deol’s fortunes have ebbed and flowed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
But support for this bill has ebbed away.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
And even though levels of leverage in certain corners of the market have ebbed from their peak levels seen shortly before July’s artificial-intelligence swoon, risks remain.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 30, 2026
Comparable sales, which account for store openings and closing, ebbed 1.1%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
The fog ebbed away as they climbed a sloping hill.
From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai
South Korea’s trade data, seen as a bellwether of AI demand, show few signs that the hunger for chips is ebbing as a torrent of investment in AI infrastructure continues.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
But whatever faith people had in his ability to fix those problems, it is apparently ebbing away - and, the brutal truth is, it can be hard to find voters who like him.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
Meanwhile, any ebbing of energy and related costs if the Iran war ends would provide an additional boost to margins.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
The most famous story-style intro — it literally begins with, “Here’s a story” — belongs to “The Brady Bunch,” which bridged the 1960s and ’70s, a decade that saw the ebbing of title-sequence stories.
From Salon ● Apr. 25, 2026
I’ve been downstairs in the living room all night, with the television on for company, fear ebbing and flowing.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
