trough

[trawf, trof, trawth, troth]

noun

1. a long, narrow, open receptacle, usually boxlike in shape, used chiefly to hold water or food for animals.

2. any of several similarly shaped receptacles used for various commercial or household purposes.

3. a channel or conduit for conveying water, as a gutter under the eaves of a building for carrying away rainwater.

4. any long depression or hollow, as between two ridges or waves.

5. Oceanography.,  a long, wide, and deep depression in the ocean floor having gently sloping sides, wider and shallower than a trench.

6. Meteorology.,  an elongated area of relatively low pressure.

7. the lowest point, especially in an economic cycle.

trough

/ trɒf /

noun

1. a narrow open container, esp one in which food or water for animals is put

2. a narrow channel, gutter, or gulley

3. a narrow depression either in the land surface, ocean bed, or between two successive waves

4. meteorol an elongated area of low pressure, esp an extension of a depression Compare ridge

5. a single or temporary low point; depression

6. physics the portion of a wave, such as a light wave, in which the amplitude lies below its average value

7. economics the lowest point or most depressed stage of the trade cycle

verb

1. informal,  (intr) to eat, consume, or take greedily

trough

1. The part of a wave with the least magnitude; the lowest part of a wave.

2. Compare crest See more at wave

3. A narrow, elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure occurring at the ground surface or in the upper atmosphere, and often associated with a front.

4. Compare ridge

Other Word Forms

• troughlike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of trough¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English trōh; cognate with Dutch, German, Old Norse trog

Word History and Origins

Origin of trough¹

Old English trōh ; related to Old Saxon, Old Norse trog trough, Dutch trügge ladle

Example Sentences

The court heard that a section of the road before the crash site has a series of peaks and troughs with a warning sign in place to alert drivers.

Read more on BBC

Along one wall was a wooden trough for mixing the dough and metal buckets for adding water to the flour.

Read more on Literature

"Traditionally in adoption we've seen peaks and troughs, but I don't think we've ever seen the cost of living quite as it is at the moment," she said.

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The chemicals market is currently in a trough, but oil companies have often tried to time investments to benefit from market recoveries.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The resulting 1978 masterpiece—sublimely detailed and marvelously strange in its presentation of unseen ridges, troughs and endless plains—reflected the newly established theories of plate tectonics and continental drift.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• trench