trickle

American  

[trik-uhl] / ˈtrɪk əl /

verb (used without object)

trickled, trickling

1. to flow or fall by drops, or in a small, gentle stream.

   Tears trickled down her cheeks.

2. to come, go, or pass bit by bit, slowly, or irregularly.

   The guests trickled out of the room.

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verb (used with object)

trickled, trickling

1. to cause to trickle.

noun

1. a trickling flow or stream.

   Synonyms:

   drip, seepage, dribble

2. a small, slow, or irregular quantity of anything coming, going, or proceeding.

   a trickle of visitors throughout the day.

trickle British  

/ ˈtrɪkəl /

verb

1. to run or cause to run in thin or slow streams

   she trickled the sand through her fingers

2. (intr) to move, go, or pass gradually

   the crowd trickled away

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noun

1. a thin, irregular, or slow flow of something

2. the act of trickling

Other Word Forms

• trickling adjective
• tricklingly adverb
• trickly adjective

Etymology

Origin of trickle

1325–75; Middle English triklen, trekelen (v.), apparently sandhi variant of strikle, perhaps equivalent to strike (in obsolete sense “flow”) + -le

Explanation

To trickle is to weakly flow out of something, like a faucet. A trickle is like a drip. There are a lot of ways water can flow, but one type of slow dripping is called trickling. If your shower is only releasing a trickle of water, you're not going to get much of a shower. If it's raining — but only a trickle — you might not need an umbrella. A slightly leaky roof is trickling. A trickle is the opposite of a downpour or flood. Trickling can also be called dribbling.

Example Sentences

That has contributed to a dynamic where momentum is hard to bet against, even though ship traffic through the strait remains at a trickle, and oil stockpiles around the world are quickly falling.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026

Those costs will trickle down to ratepayers, he said, although it is not yet clear how much the Pastoria project alone will add to people’s water bills.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 20, 2026

The flood of German investment that powered postcommunist Hungary meanwhile slowed to a trickle, making other sources essential.

From Barron's • Apr. 17, 2026

"If this is actually done by the Americans, it will halt a very tiny trickle of vessels. In the greater scheme of things, it doesn't really change anything," he says.

From BBC • Apr. 12, 2026

Before the trickle can turn into a stream, I brush them off with the back of my hand.

From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman

Related Words

• crawl
• creep
• dribble
• flow
• leak
• ooze
• percolate
• seep
• stream