trickle
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to flow or fall by drops, or in a small, gentle stream.
Tears trickled down her cheeks.
-
to come, go, or pass bit by bit, slowly, or irregularly.
The guests trickled out of the room.
verb (used with object)
verb
-
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
-
a thin, irregular, or slow flow of something
-
the act of trickling
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
tricklesimple
-
tricklessimple
-
have trickledperfect
-
has trickledperfect
-
am tricklingprogressive
-
are tricklingprogressive
-
is tricklingprogressive
-
have been tricklingperfect progressive
-
has been tricklingperfect progressive
Past
-
trickledsimple
-
had trickledperfect
-
was tricklingprogressive
-
were tricklingprogressive
-
had been tricklingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Vocabulary lists containing trickle
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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.
See Examples For:
The sharp pullback comes despite the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi threats against Saudi ships in the Red Sea keeping oil flows out of the Gulf region to a trickle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Finally, even the interviews slowed to a trickle.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
The impact of the late-night opening hours will trickle into Monday morning as the working week gets under way.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
As I stood against the bar top and watched people shyly trickle in, Vasquez came up to me.
From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2026
I lowered the flow of my water to a trickle and motioned Bobby Gene to do the same.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
That has driven worries of rising inflation, as the cost of fuel trickles down to consumers through virtually every industry.
From MarketWatch ● May 17, 2026
Pistachio’s ubiquity is also new as the nut trickles down from TikTok virality to mass market explosion.
From Salon ● May 6, 2026
Jackson said: "That trickles downstream to mean that comedy is not getting funded even though it generates billions in revenue, millions in tax, it's not being proportionately reinvested back into the sector."
From BBC ● Apr. 4, 2026
This money trickles through the economy, and some of it ends up adding to the earnings of big, traded companies.
From Barron's ● Apr. 3, 2026
Today he is overheating; sweat trickles down his back and sides.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
A handful of day-trippers trickled aboard the boat in hiking boots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Volunteers served warm meals and donations from local residents trickled in.
From Barron's ● Jun. 3, 2026
The rising costs of energy have trickled down to nearly every part of the economy, from gas prices to shipping costs, and rising inflation fears have pushed long-term U.S. bonds yields to multi-decade highs.
From MarketWatch ● May 24, 2026
The qualities that defined a “bop” quickly became less specific when they trickled down through social media.
From Salon ● May 10, 2026
Water dripped from the leaves onto my face and trickled off my skin.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
The bubbly 28-year-old sits on the porch of a bungalow at the temple complex and says hello to the other women, who start trickling into the room.
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2026
He is waiting to catch a clear liquid trickling from a spout near the bottom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026
Additional conditions allow for shares to keep trickling out into the market ahead of the six-month expiration date.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026
Along the way, the filing said, Allen recorded his appreciation for the changing landscapes, for example writing on his phone that Pennsylvania's woods resembled "vast fairy lands filled with tiny trickling creeks."
From Barron's ● Apr. 29, 2026
“Your eyes are hazel,” he says, pointing at the sunlight trickling in through the glass all around me.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
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.
