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

Example Sentences

Information has been slow to trickle out of the countryside in northwestern Sokoto state and neighbouring Kwara state, which the Nigerian government said late Friday was hit in the strikes.

From Barron's

As this money trickles through the economy, it stands to transform the fate of businesses tied to everything from artificial intelligence and data centers to dental offices and medical spas.

From The Wall Street Journal

Of course, investors can also log out for the holidays and focus on the trickle of 2026 forecasts suggesting another good year for the S&P 500.

From Barron's

This trickles down to companies that become reluctant to borrow, spend or hire.

From MarketWatch

But even after those victories, the flow of new science grants had slowed to a trickle.

From Salon

Related Words

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