trickle
Americanverb (used without object)
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to flow or fall by drops, or in a small, gentle stream.
Tears trickled down her cheeks.
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to come, go, or pass bit by bit, slowly, or irregularly.
The guests trickled out of the room.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to run or cause to run in thin or slow streams
she trickled the sand through her fingers
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(intr) to move, go, or pass gradually
the crowd trickled away
noun
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a thin, irregular, or slow flow of something
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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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She had a ring of sweat where her bike helmet had pressed against her head, and the sweat was trickling down her cheeks.
From Literature
Over thousands of years, the water trickling down the mountain had worn away the steep black rocks to make a curving slide.
From Literature
For Mair, the lament is that the very public controversy playing out on that Olympic stage will force changes at the top level of the sport that will trickle down to the grassroots.
From Los Angeles Times
“Most people don’t like what he says, but look what he’s doing,” Anthony said as the late-morning crowd trickled into an upscale North Scottsdale shopping center.
From Los Angeles Times
One morning the people of Rin woke to find that the stream that flowed down the Mountain and through their village had slowed to a trickle.
From Literature
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.
