a current at variance with the main current in a stream of liquid or gas, especially one having a rotary or whirling motion.
a small whirlpool.
any similar current, as of air, dust, or fog.
a current or trend, as of opinion or events, running counter to the main current.
a movement in a stream of air, water, or other fluid in which the current doubles back on itself causing a miniature whirlwind or whirlpool
a deviation from or disturbance in the main trend of thought, life, etc, esp one that is relatively unimportant
A current, as of water or air, moving in a direction that is different from that of the main current. Eddies generally involve circular motion; unstable patterns of eddies are often called turbulence.
See also vortex
1425–75; late Middle English; Old English ed- turning + ēa water; akin to Old Norse itha
An eddy is a whirlpool — what you stare at as a kid when the water is draining out of the bathtub. Pronounced exactly like the name, “Eddie,” this word means to swirl in a direction opposite of the current. Any substance like water, fog, smoke, or air can create an eddy, but it is most commonly seen as a term related to water. Books from the "flapper" era of the 1920s often include a description of a nightclub with "an eddy of cigarette smoke above a woman’s head."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
They can’t recreate every wind puff and ocean eddy, so they divide the world into a 3-D grid and generate myriad variables for each box, from soil temperature to ocean salinity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 19, 2026
The process, Hauptman said, has made him feel like “an eddy in a river.”
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2025
Temperature data from satellites and buoys revealed a large southbound eddy moving through the region, coupled with 4 days of strong easterly winds, fueled strong upwelling.
From Science Magazine • Apr. 15, 2024
They used these models to conduct fluid flow simulations that combined the methods of large eddy simulations and the Ffowcs-Williams-Hawkings analogy.
From Science Daily • Jan. 23, 2024
The timber swung slowly so that the bank was behind me and I knew we were in an eddy.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
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.
