reverberate
Americanverb (used without object)
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reverberates,
present (3rd person singular)
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reverberated,
past participle, past
-
reverberating
present participle
-
to reecho or resound.
Her singing reverberated through the house.
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Physics. to be reflected many times, as sound waves from the walls of a confined space.
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to rebound or recoil.
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to be deflected, as flame in a reverberatory furnace.
verb (used with object)
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reverberates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
reverberated,
past participle, past
-
reverberating
present participle
-
to echo back or reecho (sound).
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to cast back or reflect (light, heat, etc.).
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to subject to reflected heat, as in a reverberatory furnace.
adjective
verb
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(intr) to resound or re-echo
the explosion reverberated through the castle
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to reflect or be reflected many times
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(intr) to rebound or recoil
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(intr) (of the flame or heat in a reverberatory furnace) to be deflected onto the metal or ore on the hearth
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(tr) to heat, melt, or refine (a metal or ore) in a reverberatory furnace
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reverberationnoun
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reverberatornoun
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reverberantadjective
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reverberativeadjective
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unreverberatedadjective
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unreverberatingadjective
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unreverberativeadjective
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reverberantlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reverberatesimple
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reverberatessimple
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have reverberatedperfect
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has reverberatedperfect
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am reverberatingprogressive
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are reverberatingprogressive
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is reverberatingprogressive
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have been reverberatingperfect progressive
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has been reverberatingperfect progressive
Past
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reverberatedsimple
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had reverberatedperfect
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was reverberatingprogressive
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were reverberatingprogressive
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had been reverberatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reverberate
First recorded in 1540–50, reverberate is from the Latin word reverberātus (past participle of reverberāre to strike back). See reverberant, -ate 1
Explanation
If you give a loud shout in a cavernous place, like a gym or a church, the sound of your voice will reverberate throughout the room. Reverberate means sound waves traveling back and forth, as in an echo. Often we use reverberate to talk about sound, or sometimes light. If a noise echoes for a long time, we can say the space reverberates with that noise. You may have heard of a reverb effect in audio processing, which is basically a long echo. We also use the word metaphorically to describe the impact of huge events. For example, the 2008 mortgage crisis in the U.S. reverberated throughout the world’s economy, causing a global recession.
Vocabulary lists containing reverberate
Grade 9, List 2
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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The Diary of Anne Frank
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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:
A remarkable back-of-the-envelope calculation from a currency strategist shows just how much SpaceX’s initial public offering could reverberate in global markets.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
The effects on their family of five still reverberate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026
American politics and policies still reverberate in currency markets to this day.
From Barron's ● Jun. 5, 2026
The very sound of those words, the preserve of strugglers, should reverberate through the whole club.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
“A change at one point, in one molecule even, may reverberate throughout the entire system to initiate changes in seemingly unrelated organs and tissues,” says a recent summary of the present status of medical research.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The thud of fists walloping punching bags reverberates through the gym from morning until evening.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
One can be thought of as “ripple-out” inflation, where a shock to an economically ubiquitous input — like energy — reverberates throughout other goods and sectors that depend upon it.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Inflation erodes confidence in the future; the psychic blow of 2008 still reverberates; young voters, especially millennials, remember those days of anxiety.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
As fear reverberates across the child-care industry amid ICE raids, providers and nannies are not only worried about their own safety but also the safety of the kids.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2025
Night has fallen, and outside the cave, thunder reverberates.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
That decision reverberated throughout the world soccer community as the moment Infantino went too far.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Burns punched the air as a rapturous roar - which ripped across the course - reverberated in his ears.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
The plant’s low rumble reverberated across the surrounding desert, unusually green from a recent rain.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
With uncertainty looming abroad, Kent’s resignation reverberated in Washington, where it exposed new divisions over the administration’s handling of the war.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2026
The gesture of defiance and survival that the broadcast sought to express reverberated around the world.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
O’Regan further pointed out that weakness in the Korean chip sector could be reverberating across the sector on Friday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026
Changes in how we work are reverberating around the world, sparking debate from Asia to Europe to the United States.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
Those changes have rocked the exhibition business in ways that are still reverberating today.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026
The record’s title track begins with a broad, reverberating chord akin to the Beatles’ opener on “A Hard Day’s Night” or closer on “A Day in the Life.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 3, 2026
It was highly acoustical, as though it were reverberating within four tiled walls.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
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.
