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.
In one part of the conveyor system, a vibrating panel called an eddy current creates a sort of reverse magnet that repels nonferrous materials like aluminum beverage cans into their own collection area.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
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
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
Kid Sampson, Nately and the others wandered apart in a noiseless eddy of motion and were sucked away into the cloying yellow stillness.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Pogacar, 27, is aiming to become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour's history with five wins, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
Slovenia's Pogacar, 27, is aiming this year to become the joint-most successful rider in the Tour's history with five wins, alongside Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain.
From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026
The Celtic languages and literature department, for instance, has drastically different funding and personnel needs compared with the physics department, Eddy says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Maybe an uncle can help talk things through, or a therapist,” Eddy said.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 30, 2026
“I’m going to the Eddy and fish,” the first said.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
It happens through a combination of eddies, mixing, rotation and friction close to land.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
“It’s a little bit like if you're kayaking in a river, and there's rocks underneath the water, sometimes there's eddies in the surface, which can tell you about the rocks under the water,” explained Ockenden.
From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026
The sources of our malaise are deeper than the shallow eddies of fashion and entertainment in “Blank Space.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
Understanding how fish swim in eddies could also aid in habitat restoration, the team says, helping conservationists engineer more efficient fish passages through dams.
From Science Magazine ● Jun. 5, 2024
He looked out at the river, at its eddies and swirls, the patterns forming on its surface and disappearing.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
All around, the floor had grown treacherous from the slippery fallen gold, which eddied into corners, like piles of leaves.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2015
Such talk has swirled and eddied here since the mid-1980s.
From New York Times ● Nov. 22, 2012
A thousand conflicting feelings eddied in his head.
From New York Times ● May 21, 2012
All week long the rumors swirled and eddied through the windswept streets of Montreal; for one reason or another, by resignation, illness or dismissal, Msgr.
From Time Magazine Archive
Little whirls of frozen dust eddied about Francie’s feet.
From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith
It is so heavy that the building has cracked from the weight, and it seems to capture the cyclical eddying between creation and crumbling that so captivates the artist.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2022
Its ambiguities and enigmas add up to not more eddying confusions but to a stark reminder that the only reasonable response to grief is “life life life.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 22, 2022
The crowds mostly kept a respectful distance but in sight of the gate, eddying like pilgrims gathered around a shrine, only breaking their vigil to watch a plane arc slowly by.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2021
Whichever the case, winds that normally blow west to east across the Pacific have been eddying into a south to north pattern as the atmosphere swirls like a whirlpool in a river.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 14, 2016
The farther trees looked shadowy, and almost black, and the stream was suddenly opaque, eddying about Kingshaw’s thighs.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
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.
