flowing
Americanadjective
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moving in or as in a stream.
flowing water.
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proceeding smoothly or easily; facile.
flowing language.
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long, smooth, graceful, and without sudden interruption or change of direction.
flowing lines; flowing gestures.
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hanging loosely at full length.
flowing hair.
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abounding; having in excess.
a land flowing with milk and honey.
Other Word Forms
- flowingly adverb
- flowingness noun
- self-flowing adjective
- unflowing adjective
Etymology
Origin of flowing
before 950; Middle English flowynge, Old English flōwende. See flow, -ing 2
Explanation
Anything flowing moves like liquid, such as the flowing water of a river or someone’s long, flowing hair. Even a conversation can be flowing if people have a lot to say to each other. The adjective flowing is useful for describing things that drape gracefully, like Rapunzel's flowing hair or Cinderella's flowing gown. The sleek and streamlined movements of a ballet dancer might also be called flowing, and so can particularly graceful writing: "The poet's flowing lines beautifully evoked a summer afternoon." Flowing comes from flow, from a root meaning "to stream, melt, or become liquid."
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.
Sable immediately complied, and oil has been flowing ever since, despite state orders to keep the system shut down.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 21, 2026
Nearly 90% of European venture capital invested in defense technology is flowing into German companies, according to government figures.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 20, 2026
There was a "huge deluge, flow, river in fact, flowing through the garden", he told RNZ.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
That Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government could set aside their many differences to get the oil flowing sends a huge sign, Medlock said.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 15, 2026
Or maybe I’d see a bean sídhe with her hair flowing, moaning because someone was going to die.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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.
