trickle

American  

[trik-uhl] / ˈtrɪk əl /

verb (used without object)

• trickles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trickled,
  past participle,  past
• trickling
  present participle

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.

---

verb (used with object)

• trickles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• trickled,
  past participle,  past
• trickling
  present participle

1. to cause to trickle.

noun

• trickles
  plural

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

---

noun

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

2. the act of trickling

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• trickling
  adjective
• trickly
  adjective
• tricklingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• trickles
  plural

Participles

• trickling
  present
• trickled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• trickle
  simple
• trickles
  simple
• have trickled
  perfect
• has trickled
  perfect
• am trickling
  progressive
• are trickling
  progressive
• is trickling
  progressive
• have been trickling
  perfect progressive
• has been trickling
  perfect progressive

Past

• trickled
  simple
• had trickled
  perfect
• was trickling
  progressive
• were trickling
  progressive
• had been trickling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will trickle
  simple
• will have trickled
  perfect
• will be trickling
  progressive
• will have been trickling
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

trickle trickles trickled trickling

But a trickle of upgrades in the past few races finally all came together with the introduction of a new floor in Baku, the weekend before Malaysia.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

The real shock to the British public came when word started to trickle out about who was having no trouble getting in.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

However, these releases slowed to a trickle in April after Rodriguez said the scheme was "coming to an end".

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2026

And when interest rates are stable, banks “can use that as an advantage, as an opportunity to trickle savings rates lower,” he said.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

The call would ring out from the village on loudspeakers at the mosque, and we could hear it trickle in through the windows.

From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani

A tiny stream now trickles through the weeds on the lake bed.

From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026

Wells Fargo recommends stocks in the tech, industrials and financial services sectors as spending on artificial intelligence trickles down into the rest of the economy.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026

I love this idea that we can bring people together and then it trickles out to other things.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 20, 2026

Chesney said he plans to build on each practice, and his coaching staff will set a standard that trickles down to the players.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2026

When she begins describing his amputated leg, a tear trickles down my face against my will.

From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez

Students trickled into some schools despite ongoing protests outside their gates, ahead of a day of larger demonstrations expected on Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

The bottleneck has trickled down to personal computers, which has sent prices higher, at the expense of units sold.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

Details about what’s in the new trade deal have trickled out.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026

That White House staffers apparently felt comfortable anonymously attacking Holmes in personal terms suggests that the impulse has trickled down too.

From Slate ● Aug. 18, 2026

A stream of some foul liquid trickled down from the thing’s mouth.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

Auen and Walker delight in trickling real historical information — the result of painstaking research they both conducted studying the Chronovisor — through the film at a slow but steady, always compelling pace.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026

Details are still trickling out, but here’s what we know.

From Slate ● Sep. 4, 2026

The money starts compounding immediately instead of trickling in over the five years.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Election results are still trickling in for primary races across California, including in Los Angeles, where incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is up against reality-star-turned challenger Spencer Pratt to lead the city.

From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026

I looked at a decorative fountain in his office—a mini waterfall trickling over rocks.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Related Words

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