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
That means any deteriorating credit backdrop, a pickup in credit losses or higher yields still could ricochet through private credit or other publicly traded funds.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 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
Ms. Frank’s unconventional, imaginatively orchestrated score maps their dreamlike journey as they ricochet through different planes of existence, and find resolution together in their love and their art.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026
Before I catch myself, my eyes ricochet like pin balls, bounding from John-John McIntyre’s beady brown eyes right up to hers.
From "The Skin I'm In" by Sharon G. Flake
"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
The book ricochets back and forth in time, with such section headings as “Twelve Days Before the Robbery” and “Thirteen Years Earlier.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 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
Sound ricochets between the high houses; she feels, as she did in her first hour here, as if she has stepped into a maze.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Close-up shots of him face-to-face with Holmes have ricocheted across social media and already become the stuff of meme gold.
From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026
Djokovic was serving for a place in the final when the ball ricocheted off the back of the court.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
The ball ricocheted to the edge of the infield grass, where first baseman Freddie Freeman picked it up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
The firm’s unraveling ricocheted across the financial world, especially on now-defunct Swiss bank Credit Suisse, which had sold loans by the firm to its clients.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
I said, at last, in answer to some other ricocheted questions, “I left the church twenty years ago and I haven’t joined anything since.”
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
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
The rest ricochetted harmlessly over the water, throwing up sparkling geysers of foam in the bright sunlight.
From Famous Sea Fights From Salamis to Tsu-Shima by John Richard Hale
Instead of sinking, the shot ricochetted from the water and carried away the bow of the boat in passing, whirling it round and almost overturning it.
From The Battle and the Breeze by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
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
As Code spoke a puff of white smoke thrust out from the blunt bows of the cutter, and the ball ricochetted from wave-top to wave-top to fall half a mile astern of the schooner.
From The Harbor of Doubt by George W. Gage
Unable to pick a lane and drive it, they keep ricocheting between preaching patience and acting impatiently.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
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
Here, Smith shows off his footballing skills to stop the ball from ricocheting on to the stumps during the Lord's Test.
From BBC ● Dec. 25, 2025
Their motion resembles a pinball ricocheting between stationary posts.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 17, 2025
And it is the sight of her looking like some preposterous zombie that sends a hummingbird of panic ricocheting through me.
From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman
It seemed as if nothing could prevent the projectiles from Kilid Bahr and the adjacent batteries ricochetting into Chanak and the forts on the Asiatic shore.
From The Fight for Constantinople A Story of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
Down, leaping, ricochetting, thundering, hurtled a great boulder, spurning the cliff-face with a tremendous uproar.
From Darkness and Dawn by George Allan England
He had just lain down on a soaking couch of spruce boughs when the ricochetting echo of a gun set the boulders crashing down the precipices.
From Pathfinders of the West Being the Thrilling Story of the Adventures of the Men Who Discovered the Great Northwest: Radisson, La Vérendrye, Lewis and Clark by Agnes C. (Agnes Christina) Laut
Shells from the Turkish defences were ricochetting all around the British warships or expending themselves harmlessly against the armoured plating.
From The Fight for Constantinople A Story of the Gallipoli Peninsula by Percy F. (Percy Francis) Westerman
Just as we were turning the face of Screen cliff a sound of singing reached us, ricochetting over the water.
From Noto: an Unexplained Corner of Japan by Percival Lowell
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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.
