ricochet
Americannoun
-
ricochets
plural
verb (used without object)
-
ricochets,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ricocheted,
past participle, past
-
ricochetted,
past participle, past (especially British)
-
ricocheting,
present participle
-
ricochetting
present participle (especially British)
verb
noun
-
the motion or sound of a rebounding object, esp a bullet
-
an object, esp a bullet, that ricochets
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ricochetsimple
-
ricochetssimple
-
have ricochetedperfect
-
have ricochettedperfect
-
has ricochetedperfect
-
has ricochettedperfect
-
am ricochetingprogressive
-
am ricochettingprogressive
-
are ricochetingprogressive
-
are ricochettingprogressive
-
is ricochetingprogressive
-
is ricochettingprogressive
-
have been ricochetingperfect progressive
-
have been ricochettingperfect progressive
-
has been ricochetingperfect progressive
-
has been ricochettingperfect progressive
Past
-
ricochetedsimple
-
ricochettedsimple
-
had ricochetedperfect
-
had ricochettedperfect
-
was ricochetingprogressive
-
was ricochettingprogressive
-
were ricochetingprogressive
-
were ricochettingprogressive
-
had been ricochetingperfect progressive
-
had been ricochettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ricochet
First recorded in 1760–70; from French; further origin uncertain
Explanation
A projectile that bounces off another surface is said to ricochet. You missed when you threw your crumpled paper at the wastepaper basket. Instead, the paper ricocheted off the wall and hit your brother on the head. The battle was on! As a noun, ricochet refers to the rebound or to the object that ricochets. If someone shoots a bullet and it ricochets off a tree, you can survive the initial gunfire only to be caught by the ricochet. The word ricochet is from the French word of the same spelling. Because of its French origin, the word is still pronounced with the soft French "shay" sound at the end — not a hard "T."
Vocabulary lists containing ricochet
Touching Spirit Bear
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The Skin I'm In
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Code Talker
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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:
Engineers said they were able to debunk some "myths", including that bullets can ricochet off the curve in the ballistic plate.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The ball shot to his left, where second baseman Santiago Espinal tried to salvage the play but couldn’t pick up the ricochet cleanly.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026
The unpleasant market metaphor refers to the idea that even a lifeless feline when dropped from a height may initially ricochet off the ground.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 9, 2026
Unlucky Torino centre-back Coco saw the ball come off him and ricochet into the net in the 74th minute when his teammate Luis Asue attempted to clear a free-kick.
From Barron's ● Dec. 28, 2025
And Elijah himself had a further, unnerving habit, which was to ricochet his questions and comments off someone else on their way to you.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
"Is anyone alive in here?!" the voice of Moises Faramaya ricochets around the ruins of the same neighborhood.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
In her refusal to shy away from the grime and grit of Yuknavitch’s story, Stewart creates a startlingly raw atmosphere that ricochets between discordant and truly inspiring.
From Salon ● Jan. 1, 2026
Even if their shots don’t go in, the traffic in front of the goal leads to more tips, ricochets and general chaos in the tight areas around Winnipeg’s goal.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2025
There's almost a Ben Stokes World Cup final 2019 moment, as Sciver-Brunt comes back for the second and the throw in from the fielder ricochets off her bat.
From BBC ● May 16, 2024
The plastic bin ricochets off the back wall of the closet and tumbles out onto the floor, barfing clothes.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
His words immediately ricocheted around the internet, as it’s generally understood that humans are the victimizers in such situations.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
But then he appeared to backtrack after his critique made headlines and ricocheted around social media.
From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026
During Pages’ at-bat, a pitch ricocheted off Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe’s left hand.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 16, 2026
Video of the incident—played in court—had already ricocheted across the internet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Plum stopped crying as the black hard stools ricocheted onto the frozen ground.
From "Sula" by Toni Morrison
The rest either flew harmlessly overhead or ricochetted from the surface of the placid water.
From The Submarine Hunters A Story of the Naval Patrol Work in the Great War by Edward S. Hodgson
He tossed the coffee cup over his shoulder and it ricochetted in graceful slow motion against the far wall.
From PRoblem by Alan Edward Nourse
Now and then a bullet would have a hoarse sound—that meant that it had ricochetted.
From Crittenden A Kentucky Story of Love and War by John Fox
The first ball fired fell short about fifty yards, and then ricochetted nearly across the lake.
From With the World's Great Travellers, Volume 1 by Various
“It touched the roof, ricochetted off, and burst away behind.”
From With Rifle and Bayonet A Story of the Boer War by F. S. (Frederick Sadleir) Brereton
Because helium’s industrial uses are so broad, shortages are ricocheting through multiple sectors and countries at once.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
They hugged one another and recounted slightly discombobulated stories of bullets ricocheting off cellphones and even someone’s teeth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2025
Their motion resembles a pinball ricocheting between stationary posts.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 17, 2025
The incident has fueled a storm of late-summer ridicule, with memes ricocheting across social media and commentators pointing to the almost slapstick nature of the scandal.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2025
A sharp ping sounded: the ball ricocheting off the armored back of one of those ankys.
From "Dactyl Hill Squad" by Daniel José Older
The shot dashed up the spray under the bows of the boats, and ricochetting over them, disappeared in the wave, about half a mile astern.
From The King's Own by Frederick Marryat
The balls went skipping along after striking the ground a hundred yards or so beyond the enemy’s battery, and, ricochetting, darted right for the solid moving mass of men.
From The Young Castellan A Tale of the English Civil War by George Manville Fenn
There was a sharp crack from the shore; something whistled past Lydia's head, struck an upright post, splintering the edge, and with a whine went ricochetting into the sea.
From The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace
The first shot from the "Conestoga" struck the water a few feet from the "Yankee," and, ricochetting, plunged into her hull.
From The Naval History of the United States Volume 2 by W. C. Jackson
The rain is followed by hailstones which fly through the defile in battalions—rolling, hopping, ricochetting, snapping, clattering down the shelving banks in an undefinable haze of confusion.
From A Changed Man; and other tales by Thomas Hardy
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.
