trickle

[ trik-uhl ]

verb (used without object)

, trick·led, trick·ling.

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)

, trick·led, trick·ling.

1. to cause to trickle.

noun

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

/ 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

Derived Forms

• ˈtrickling, adjective
• ˈtrickly, adjective
• ˈtricklingly, adverb

Other Words From

• trickling·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of trickle¹

1325–75; Middle English triklen, trekelen (v.), apparently sandhi variant of strikle, perhaps equivalent to strike (in obsolete sense “flow”) + -le

Word History and Origins

Origin of trickle¹

C14: perhaps of imitative origin

Example Sentences

Throughout the late 1960s and 1970s, many old Nazis managed discreetly to trickle back to what they regarded as the Fatherland.

From The Daily Beast

In the meantime, much of the book is already available online, and scholarly criticism has already started to trickle in.

From The Daily Beast

Months after the president stepped in to save the Yazidis from genocide, the airstrikes have slowed to a trickle.

From The Daily Beast

A small trickle of donations from friends and family, handled by a church in Indiana, was his main source of funding.

From The Daily Beast

In days of yore, blood on screen was to be feared: think the trickle of blood signaling defilement in old vampire movies.

From The Daily Beast

I laved his pain-twisted face with the cool water and let a few drops trickle into his open mouth.

From Project Gutenberg

The trickle of water sounded very pleasant to all the children as they lay down once more to drink.

From Project Gutenberg

Beardsley savored the thought tastily, and let it trickle away, and the look of glee on his cherubic face was gone.

From Project Gutenberg

He looked down at his hand, where two long red scratches oozed a trickle of blood.

From Project Gutenberg

These drops of water trickle to the floor, and occasionally the exuded white matter falls.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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