rip current

American  

noun

1. undertow.

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rip current Scientific  

1. A strong, narrow surface current that flows rapidly away from the shore. Rip currents form when excess water that has accumulated along a shore due to wind and waves rushes back suddenly to deeper waters.

2. Also called rip tide

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Etymology

Origin of rip current

First recorded in 1935–40

Compare meaning

How does rip-current compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• riptide vs. rip current

Example Sentences

Two miles away in Ocean Beach, a surfer alerted the lifeguard tower that a dog had been swept into a rip current and was drifting out to sea.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 26, 2025

But he said it was a "change in frequency of the waves plus the north-easterly wind which contributed to a rip current being quite so intense".

From BBC • Oct. 1, 2024

You know that age-old advice that if you're swimming and feel yourself getting pulled out to sea by a rip current, to swim across rather than fighting it?

From Salon • Feb. 6, 2024

North Carolina Emergency Management warned that large swells from distant Hurricane Nigel also would reach the state’s coast on Thursday, boosting the rip current risk.

From Washington Times • Sep. 21, 2023

She has continued to exist, survived her childhood illnesses, the near-drowning in a rip current on Rockaway Beach at the age of twelve, other dramas.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker