whitecap
Americannoun
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whitecaps
plural
noun
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a wave with a white broken crest
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a member of a vigilante organization that attempts to control a community
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of whitecap
Vocabulary lists containing whitecap
Earth Science - Middle School
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Earth Science - High School
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Oceanography - Middle School
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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:
I backed up and stumbled as we braced ourselves to meet the wall of water that was now a whitecap above our heads.
From The Guardian ● Dec. 14, 2016
Wave upon wave of oceanic orchestral sounds — swirling strings, arpeggiated harps, droning brass and winds, the whitecap shimmer of multiple harps, bells, marimbas, vibraphones and keyboards — momentously evoked the Pacific.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2015
Here & there in the long groundswell of words a whitecap showed.
From Time Magazine Archive
Some of the islands are so small that they seem no bigger than a whitecap from a few miles' distance.
From Time Magazine Archive
Much harden The water was running out against him, and every whitecap that struck him broadside sent water into the bottom of the boat.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
One evening, ominous, low-lying tube-shaped clouds known as arcus formed, and whitecaps appeared in the waves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
Cefalu — a lifelong Tahoe boater and co-owner of Mile High Fishing Charters — noticed some whitecaps forming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
Along the Battery area at the southern tip of the 350-year-old city’s peninsula, locals and tourists alike took selfies against the choppy backdrop of whitecaps in Charleston Harbor as palm trees bent in gusty wind.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 29, 2022
A strong wind created whitecaps, while waves breaking against rocks occasionally sprayed us.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2021
I point to a wider crossing with fewer whitecaps a short walk away.
From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera
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.
