rip current
Americannoun
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A strong, narrow surface current that flows rapidly away from the shore. Rip currents form when excess water that has accumulated along a shore due to wind and waves rushes back suddenly to deeper waters.
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Also called rip tide
Etymology
Origin of rip current
First recorded in 1935–40
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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.
“We thought we saw a guy stuck in a rip current, so Chris took off down to the water, and I ran right after him,” Yetter told the television station.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
A rip current can quickly pull you away from shore, he says, "and it doesn't need to pull you very far, it just needs to pull you out of your depth".
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
More than 10 people were pulled far from shore and scattered along a “dog-leg” rip current, which bends and abruptly changes direction.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2025
The rip current that caught them is a near permanent feature of Longsands, caused by the North Sea surging past the 1920s-built concrete lido.
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2025
She has continued to exist, survived her childhood illnesses, the near-drowning in a rip current on Rockaway Beach at the age of twelve, other dramas.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
