stream

[ streem ]

See synonyms for: stream streaming streams on Thesaurus.com

noun

a body of water flowing in a channel or watercourse, as a river, rivulet, or brook.
a steady current in water, as in a river or the ocean: to row against the stream;the Gulf Stream.

any flow of water or other liquid or fluid: streams of blood.
a current or flow of air, gas, or the like.
a beam or trail of light: A stream of moonlight fell from the clouds.
a continuous flow or succession of anything: a stream of words.
prevailing direction; drift: the stream of opinion.
Digital Technology.
- a flow of data, as an audio broadcast, a movie, or live video, transmitted smoothly and continuously from a source to a computer, mobile device, etc.
- livestream (def. 2).

verb (used without object)

to flow, pass, or issue in a stream, as water, tears, or blood.
to send forth or throw off a stream; run or flow (often followed by with): eyes streaming with tears.

to extend in a beam or in rays, as light: Sunlight streamed in through the windows.
to move or proceed continuously like a flowing stream, as a procession.
to wave or float outward, as a flag in the wind.
to hang in a loose, flowing manner, as long hair.

verb (used with object)

to send forth or discharge in a stream: The wound streamed blood.
to cause to stream or float outward, as a flag.

Digital Technology.
- to transfer or transmit (data) in such a way that it is processed in a steady and continuous stream: Internet service providers are talking about setting limits on the amount of data that can be streamed into your home.
- livestream (def. 1).
Nautical. to place (an object) in the water at the end of a line attached to a vessel.

Idioms about stream

on stream, in or into operation: The factory will be on stream in a month.

Origin of stream

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun streem, streme, Old English strēam; cognate with German Strom, Old Norse straumr; akin to Greek rheîn “to flow”; verb derivative of the noun; see rheum

synonym study For stream

Stream, current refer to a steady flow. In this use they are interchangeable. In the sense of running water, however, a stream is a flow that may be as small as a brook or as large as a river: A number of streams have their sources in mountains. Current refers to the most rapidly moving part of the stream: This river has a swift current.

Other words for stream

1	rill, run, streamlet, runnel
2	flow, tide
6	torrent, rush
9	pour

See synonyms for stream on Thesaurus.com

Other words from stream

streamless, adjective
streamlike, adjective
in·ter·stream, adjective
outstream, verb (used with object)
un·der·stream, noun

Words that may be confused with stream

brook, creek, river, stream

Words Nearby stream

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use stream in a sentence

Andrew Wheeler announced a stream of funding to help fix a pipe that collapsed in 2017 and caused millions of gallons of untreated sewage to spill from Tijuana into San Diego.
Environment Report: State Throws Cold Water on Pricing Scheme | MacKenzie Elmer | September 14, 2020 | Voice of San Diego
Uniquely, Nickmercs uses a controller instead of a mouse and keyboard, which has further popularized him among other controller players who crowd to his stream each day.
FaZe Clan’s Lee Trink, Troy Carter and Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff are coming to Disrupt 2020 | Jordan Crook | September 11, 2020 | TechCrunch
“The stream has dominated our lives since the mid-2000s,” Caulfield says.
Digital gardens let you cultivate your own little bit of the internet | Tanya Basu | September 3, 2020 | MIT Technology Review
As demand from marketers grows, publishers will start to take more control of their contextual ad revenue stream.
‘Supercharging contextual’: Publishers eye potential for contextual ad revenue growth | Lucinda Southern | September 3, 2020 | Digiday
The surprising finding suggests birds might be able to seed lakes and streams with new fish, including invasive species.
Here’s the summer science you might have missed | Janet Raloff | September 1, 2020 | Science News For Students

But the people from Valley stream had such a thick New York accent that was all around me.
Coffee Talk with Fred Armisen: On ‘Portlandia,’ Meeting Obama, and Taylor Swift’s Greatness | Marlow Stern | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
The marchers began to stream out of the park, where they walked West on 110th and then hung a right on 7th Avenue.
Justice League Vigil for Slain NYPD Officers Asks Whose Life Matters | Olivia Nuzzi | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
stream House of Cards and other Netflix originals right from the Hopper.
Four TV Shows We Can’t Wait to Return In 2015 | DISH | December 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Slow at first, then steadily, a stream of liquid drips off the incision.
The Congo's Forgotten Colonial Getaway | Nina Strochlic | December 18, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Take responsibility for an endless stream of people, even as our own suffer, and struggle to get policy relief from Washington.
The Progressive Case Against Birthright Citizenship | Keli Goff | December 15, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The very stream that went through it flowed sluggishly along, and as if it hadn't any particular object in life.
Music-Study in Germany | Amy Fay
This hurly-burly,” said he, drawing her into a quiet eddy of the stream, “is no place for the communion of two twin souls.
The Joyous Adventures of Aristide Pujol | William J. Locke
He felt that all her force, like a strong and ardent stream, was flowing into the new channel which he had cut for her.
Bella Donna | Robert Hichens
One heavily-laden boat was dragged into the stream, and a few officers and men clambered on board.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
His expletives were varied, vivid and inexhaustible, and the turbid stream was easily set flowing.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland | Joseph Tatlow

British Dictionary definitions for stream

stream

/ (striːm) /

noun

a small river; brook
any steady flow of water or other fluid

something that resembles a stream in moving continuously in a line or particular direction
a rapid or unbroken flow of speech, etc: a stream of abuse
a flow of money into a business: a revenue stream
British any of several parallel classes of schoolchildren, or divisions of children within a class, grouped together because of similar ability
go with the stream or drift with the stream to conform to the accepted standards
off stream (of an industrial plant, manufacturing process, etc) shut down or not in production
on stream
- (of an industrial plant, manufacturing process, etc) in or about to go into operation or production
- available or in existence

verb

to emit or be emitted in a continuous flow: his nose streamed blood
(intr) to move in unbroken succession, as a crowd of people, vehicles, etc

(intr) to float freely or with a waving motion: bunting streamed in the wind
(tr) to unfurl (a flag, etc)
(intr) to move causing a trail of light, condensed gas, etc, as a jet aircraft
(when intr, often foll by for) mining to wash (earth, gravel, etc) in running water in prospecting (for gold, etc), to expose the particles of ore or metal
British education to group or divide (children) in streams

Origin of stream

Old English; related to Old Frisian strām, Old Norse straumr, Old High German stroum, Greek rheuma

Derived forms of stream

streamlet, noun
streamlike, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for stream

stream

[ strēm ]

A flow of water in a channel or bed, as a brook, rivulet, or small river.
A flow of a watery substance, such as blood in blood vessels or cytoplasm in fungal hyphae, in an organism or in part of an organism.

Other Idioms and Phrases with stream

stream

see change horses in midstream; swim against the current (stream).

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