wave

Study(37)

/weɪv/

verb 7noun 6

Collocations

(noun.) on water

ADJ

big, enormous, giant, great, huge, mountainous | small, tiny | white-capped, white-crested, white-topped | breaking

tidal

A tidal wave caused significant damage to the coastal town last year.

VERB + WAVE

ride

Last summer, my brother learned to ride waves on his surfboard for the first time.

WAVE + VERB

rise

break, fall

The large waves fell against the rocks during the storm yesterday.

lap

The waves lapped softly against the boat as we floated in the calm bay.

crash, roar, smash

The huge waves smashed through the harbor wall during the storm last night.

WAVE + NOUN

energy, power

PREP

in the ~s

My brother loves swimming in the waves whenever we visit the beach on weekends.

on the ~s

The surfers rode their boards on the waves all morning long.

PHRASES

the crash/crashing/lap/lapping of the waves, the crest of a wave

After months of hard work, the team is riding the crest of a wave with their new product launch.

(noun.) movement of energy

ADJ

electromagnetic, light, radio, seismic, shock, sound

VERB + WAVE

emit, generate | deflect

WAVE + VERB

bounce off sth, travel

Light waves travel through space at an incredibly fast speed.

(noun.) increase/spread

ADJ

big, enormous, huge, massive | fresh, new, next, recent

first, second, etc.

The second wave of coronavirus infections hit our city much harder than the first one.

crime

VERB + WAVE

send

The bad news sent waves of shock through the office when everyone heard about the company closing.

WAVE + VERB

sweep (over) sth, wash over/through sb/sth

A wave of panic swept through the office when the fire alarm suddenly went off.

PREP

~ of

A wave of excitement swept through the stadium when the team scored the winning goal.

(noun.) hand movement

ADJ

quick | cheery, friendly | farewell, parting

VERB + WAVE

give (sb), return

She gave a friendly wave as the train pulled away from the station.

PREP

with a ~

~ of

A wave of excitement swept through the crowd when the band took the stage.

(verb.)

ADV

gently

The tall grass waved gently as the wind blew across the field.

vigorously | cheerfully, cheerily, happily

frantically, wildly

She waved wildly from the train window as it pulled away from the station.

vaguely

She waved vaguely at the crowd before turning to leave the building.

dismissively

about/around, aside, back, on, through

The police officer waved us through the checkpoint without stopping our car.

VERB + WAVE

turn and/to

As the train pulled away, she turned to wave at her father standing on the platform.

PREP

The children waved at their grandmother as the train slowly pulled away from the station.

The lifeguard waved to the swimmers to warn them about the dangerous current.

PHRASES

wave (sb) goodbye

She stood at the airport gate, waving goodbye to her parents as their plane departed.

Definitions

verb

To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.

The flag waved in the gentle breeze.

But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.

To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.

I raised my arms in a final salute. I smiled. I waved goodbye. I turned into the helicopter, the door was closed, the red carpet was rolled up.

To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.

I waved goodbye from across the room.

Look, with what courteous action / It waves you to a more removed ground.

To have an undulating or wavy form.

To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.

horns whelked and waved like the enridged sea

noun

A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.

The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.

O God! can I not save / One from the pitiless wave? / Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?

The ocean.

1895, Fiona Macleod (William Sharp), The Sin-Eater and Other Tales […] your father Murtagh Ross, and his lawful childless wife, Dionaid, and his sister Anna—one and all, they lie beneath the green wave or in the brown mould.

Whoever rules the waves rules the world...

A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.

Gravity waves, while predicted by theory for decades, have been notoriously difficult to detect.

A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.

Her hair had a nice wave to it.

sine wave

Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.

verb

To generate a wave.

If the electron had wavelike properties, then what was disturbing the medium in which the wave existed? What was waving?

Thesaurus

Synonyms

noun — the act of signaling by a movement of the hand

waving
wafture

noun — (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth

undulation

noun — an undulating curve

undulation

verb — signal with the hands or nod

beckon

verb — twist or roll into coils or ringlets

curl

verb — move or swing back and forth

verb — move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion

Antonyms

Idioms & Phrases

heat wave

A period of exceptionally hot weather.

We're havin a heat wave / A tropical heat wave / The temperatures rising, it isn't surprising / She certainly can, can can! / She started a heat wave / By letting her seat wave, /

ride the wave

To take advantage of a profitable period.

wave away

To reject or dismiss with a hand gesture.

Near-synonym: wave off

wave of the hand

A simple gesture, as used for greeting, command, dismissal, or summoning something as if by magic.

catch a wave

To mount one's surfboard at a distance from shore, turn it toward land, and control it for a successful, satisfying ride on inrushing water.

Like surfers trying to catch a wave, balloonists try to ride jet streams.

Example Bank

The flag waved in the gentle breeze.

Wiktionary

I raised my arms in a final salute. I smiled. I waved goodbye. I turned into the helicopter, the door was closed, the red carpet was rolled up.

Wiktionary

The wave traveled from the center of the lake before breaking on the shore.

Wiktionary

O God! can I not save / One from the pitiless wave? / Is all that we see or seem / But a dream within a dream?

Wiktionary

The new sea wall may stop the waves from the sea, but not from the children who enthusiastically greet our train as it passes. It's great to see this ages-old habit is still going strong.

Wiktionary

Usage Notes

i Register

In some senses, wave is marked as obsolete, poetic, US, historical. Watch for register when choosing this word.

Your note

not saved

0 chars