wave

/weɪv/

/weɪv/

Other forms: waves; waved; waving

The word wave has many different meanings, but they all have to do with an undulating motion or shape. A wave that washes up on a beach has the same kind of back-and-forth movement as a crowd of baseball fans doing "the wave" in the stands.

Use the verb wave to describe a greeting that includes a hand motion, from the enthusiastic flapping wave of a little kid meeting his dad at the airport to the prim wave of a Queen acknowledging her subjects. In physics, when you talk about a sound wave, there is a similar kind of rise and fall. Two Old English root words of wave are wæfre, "wavering or restless," and wagian, "to move to and fro."

Definitions of wave

1. noun

   (physics) a movement up and down or back and forth
   synonyms: undulation

   types:

   gravitation wave, gravity wave

   (physics) a wave that is hypothesized to propagate gravity and to travel at the speed of light

   sine wave

   a wave whose waveform resembles a sine curve

   oscillation, vibration

   (physics) a regular periodic variation in value about a mean

   fluctuation

   a wave motion

   seiche

   a wave on the surface of a lake or landlocked bay; caused by atmospheric or seismic disturbances

   standing wave, stationary wave

   a wave (as a sound wave in a chamber or an electromagnetic wave in a transmission line) in which the ratio of its instantaneous amplitude at one point to that at any other point does not vary with time

   traveling wave, travelling wave

   a wave in which the medium moves in the direction of propagation of the wave

   acoustic wave, sound wave

   (acoustics) a wave that transmits sound

   wave form, wave shape, waveform

   the shape of a wave illustrated graphically by plotting the values of the period quantity against time

   blast wave, shock wave

   a region of high pressure travelling through a gas at a high velocity

   impulse, pulsation, pulse, pulsing

   (electronics) a sharp transient wave in the normal electrical state (or a series of such transients)

   flap, flapping, flutter, fluttering

   the motion made by flapping up and down

   ripple

   (electronics) an oscillation of small amplitude imposed on top of a steady value

   solitary wave, soliton, soliton wave

   (physics) a quantum of energy or quasiparticle that can be propagated as a traveling wave in nonlinear systems and is neither preceded nor followed by another such disturbance; does not obey the superposition principle and does not dissipate

   air wave

   a sound wave that is transmitted via air

   transient

   (physics) a short-lived oscillation in a system caused by a sudden change of voltage or current or load

   sonic boom

   an explosive sound caused by the shock wave of an airplane traveling faster than the speed of sound

   beat

   a single pulsation of an oscillation produced by adding two waves of different frequencies; has a frequency equal to the difference between the two oscillations

   resonance

   a vibration of large amplitude produced by a relatively small vibration near the same frequency of vibration as the natural frequency of the resonating system

   sympathetic vibration

   (physics) vibration produced by resonance

   type of:

   motion, movement

   a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something
2. noun

   an undulating curve
   synonyms: undulation

   types:

   sine curve, sinusoid

   the curve of y=sin x

   type of:

   curve, curved shape

   the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes
3. noun

   one of a series of ridges that moves across the surface of a liquid (especially across a large body of water)
   synonyms: moving ridge

   types:

   breaker, breakers, surf

   waves breaking on the shore

   backwash, wake

   the wave that spreads behind a boat as it moves forward

   swash

   the movement or sound of water

   riffle, ripple, rippling, wavelet

   a small wave on the surface of a liquid

   crestless wave, swell

   the undulating movement of the surface of the open sea

   lift, rise

   a wave that lifts the surface of the water or ground

   billow, surge

   a large sea wave

   tidal wave

   a wave resulting from the periodic flow of the tides that is caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and sun

   tidal wave

   an unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide

   tsunami

   a cataclysm resulting from a destructive sea wave caused by an earthquake or volcanic eruption

   roll, roller, rolling wave

   a long heavy sea wave as it advances towards the shore

   comber

   a long curling sea wave

   white horse, whitecap

   a wave that is blown by the wind so its crest is broken and appears white

   ground swell, heavy swell

   a broad and deep undulation of the ocean

   type of:

   motion, movement

   a natural event that involves a change in the position or location of something
4. noun

   the act of signaling by a movement of the hand
   synonyms: wafture, waving

   types:

   brandish, flourish

   the act of waving

   type of:

   gesture, motion

   the use of movements (especially of the hands) to communicate familiar or prearranged signals
5. verb

   move or swing back and forth
   synonyms: brandish, flourish

   types:

   wigwag

   send a signal by waving a flag or a light according to a certain code

   type of:

   displace, move

   cause to move or shift into a new position or place, both in a concrete and in an abstract sense
6. verb

   move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
   synonyms: flap, roll, undulate

   types:

   luff

   flap when the wind is blowing equally on both sides

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
7. verb

   signal with the hands or nod
   “She waved to her friends”

   “He waved his hand hospitably”

   synonyms: beckon

   type of:

   gesticulate, gesture, motion

   show, express, or direct through movement
8. noun

   a hairdo that creates undulations in the hair
   types:

   finger wave

   a wave made with the fingers

   perm, permanent, permanent wave

   a series of waves in the hair made by applying heat and chemicals

   type of:

   coif, coiffure, hair style, hairdo, hairstyle

   the arrangement of the hair (especially a woman's hair)
9. verb

   set waves in
   “she asked the hairdresser to wave her hair”

   types:

   marcel

   make a marcel in a woman's hair

   gauffer, goffer

   make wavy with a heated goffering iron

   perm

   give a permanent wave to

   type of:

   arrange, coif, coiffe, coiffure, do, dress, set

   arrange attractively
10. verb

    twist or roll into coils or ringlets
    synonyms: curl

    types:

    crape, crimp, frizz, frizzle, kink, kink up

    curl tightly

    type of:

    twist

    turn in the opposite direction
11. noun

    a movement like that of a sudden occurrence or increase in a specified phenomenon
    “a wave of settlers”

    “troops advancing in waves”

    type of:

    motility, motion, move, movement

    a change of position that does not entail a change of location
12. noun

    something that rises rapidly
    “a wave of emotion swept over him”

    “there was a sudden wave of buying before the market closed”

    type of:

    rise

    a growth in strength or number or importance
13. noun

    a persistent and widespread unusual weather condition (especially of unusual temperatures)
    “a heat wave”

    types:

    cold wave

    a wave of unusually cold weather

    heat event, heat wave

    a period of unusually hot weather

    type of:

    atmospheric condition, conditions, weather, weather condition

    the atmospheric conditions that comprise the state of the atmosphere in terms of temperature and wind and clouds and precipitation