rivulet

American  

[riv-yuh-lit] / ˈrɪv yə lɪt /

noun

1. a small stream; streamlet; brook.

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rivulet British  

/ ˈrɪvjʊlɪt /

noun

1. a small stream

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Etymology

Origin of rivulet

1580–90; earlier rivolet < Italian rivoletto, diminutive of rivolo < Latin rīvulus small stream

Explanation

A rivulet is a small stream. A rivulet is to a river as a baby is to an adult. There are several ways to remember this word. One is the similarity of its sound to "river." Another is the suffix -let, which indicates small things. For example, a piglet is a small pig or baby pig. A 300-pound pig probably wouldn't drown in a tiny rivulet, but a piglet should stay clear. Another word for rivulet is streamlet.

Example Sentences

Rivulet back when MacAdams began writing the most important poem in the city’s history.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2023

Oscar Shafer, the chairman of Rivulet Capital, recommended Hertz, citing the consolidation in the rental car company.

From New York Times • May 10, 2013

In 1856 Mr. Lynch published a volume of religious poems called the Rivulet, some of them for private perusal, some for public worship. 

From The London Pulpit by Ritchie, J. Ewing (James Ewing)

Lynch, a Congregationalist, who, in 1853, had expressed neologian views in The Rivulet, a book of poems.

From Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama A Revised American Edition of the Reader's Handbook, Vol. 3 by Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham

We camped in the forest at the Situngula Rivulet.

From The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of 2), 1869-1873 Continued By A Narrative Of His Last Moments And Sufferings, Obtained From His Faithful Servants Chuma And Susi by Waller, Horace