wave
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
wave¹
- /weɪv/ US, UK
- /wɛjv/ British, Southern, Standard
- /wæɪv/ Australia, New Zealand
- /wev/ Scotland
- [weːv] Scotland
- /weːv/ Wales
Sounds like waive (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪv
Where it comes from
From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-West Germanic *wabōn, from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move to and from, wander”).
Cognate with Middle High German waben (“to wave”), German wabern (“to waft”), Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.
verb waves · waving · waved
- To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely. The flag waved in the gentle breeze.
- 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.
- 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
- To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture. There was also hairdressing: hairdressing, too, really was hairdressing in those times — no running a comb through it and that was that. It was curled, frizzed, waved, put in curlers overnight, waved with hot tongs;[…].
- To swing and miss at a pitch. Jones waves at strike one.
- To cause to move back and forth repeatedly. The starter waved the flag to begin the race.
- To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
- To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state. He waved indifferently 'twixt doing them neither good nor harm.
- To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft. But in the last, this dotted line, by the twisting as well as the bending of the horn, is changed from the waving into the serpentine line
wave²
- /weɪv/ US, UK
- /wɛjv/ British, Southern, Standard
- /wæɪv/ Australia, New Zealand
- /wev/ Scotland
- [weːv] Scotland
- /weːv/ Wales
Sounds like waive (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪv
Where it comes from
From Middle English *wave, partially from waven (“to fluctuate, wave”) (see above) and partially from Middle English wawe, waghe (“wave”), from Old English wǣg (“a wave, billow, motion, water, flood, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *wēgaz (“motion, storm, wave”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to drag, carry”).
Cognates
Cognate with North Frisian waag (“wave”), West Frisian weach (“wave”), Dutch waag (“wave”), German Woge, Wooge (“wave”), Danish vove, våg (“wave”), Faroese vágur (“bay”), Icelandic vogur (“bay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish våg (“wave”), Gothic 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃 (wēgs, “wave”), French vague (“wave”) (from Old Norse vágr (“ocean, sea; wave”)). See also waw.
noun waves
-
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.
Similar: und
- 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.
- 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.
- Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
- A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands. He dismissed her with a wave of the hand.
-
A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.
A wave of shoppers stampeded through the door when the store opened for its Christmas discount special.
Similar: rush
- Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
- A movement or trend in popular culture. New Wave
- One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games. As the player eliminates each wave of 55 aliens, the next wave begins lower than the one previous.
-
A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit.
Similar: Mexican wave
verb waves · waving · waved
- To generate a wave. If the electron had wavelike properties, then what was disturbing the medium in which the wave existed? What was waving?
wave³
- /weɪv/ US, UK
- /wɛjv/ British, Southern, Standard
- /wæɪv/ Australia, New Zealand
- /wev/ Scotland
- [weːv] Scotland
- /weːv/ Wales
Sounds like waive (pane–pain merger) · Rhymes with -eɪv
Where it comes from
See waive.
verb waves · waving · waved
- Obsolete spelling of waive Ladies and gentlemen—I am ordered by Miss Woodhouse to say, that she waves her right of knowing exactly what you may all be thinking of, and only requires something very entertaining from each of you, in a general way.
WAVE⁴
noun WAVES
- A members of the WAVES; a member of the US Naval Reserve (Women's Reserve). [H]e read the faded sticker on the crystal of the door, “A slip of the lip can sink a ship.” Below a WAVE held her finger to lips that had turned tan.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: beckon, undulate, undulation, flap, wafture, brandish, curl, flourish, moving ridge, ripple, vortex, blow, billow, surge, burst, outburst
Translations
Every language
verb to move back and forth repeatedly
| Español | ondular, olear, ondear |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 흔들리다 heundeullida |
| 日本語 | 揺れる yureru |
| Português | ondular |
| Français | flotter |
| Deutsch | wedeln, schwenken, flattern, wogen |
| Italiano | ondeggiare |
| Ελληνικά | κυματίζω kymatízo |
| Română | undui, ondula, învălura |
| Русский | развева́ться razvevátʹsja, ви́ться vítʹsja |
verb to wave one’s hand
| Español | saludar con la mano abierta, holear |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 흔들다 heundeulda |
| 日本語 | 振り動かす furiugokasu, 揺する yusuru, 振る furu |
| 中文 | 招手 zhāoshǒu, 揮手 /挥手 huīshǒu |
| Português | acenar |
| Français | saluer |
| Deutsch | winken |
| Italiano | salutare |
| Ελληνικά | γνέφω gnéfo |
| Русский | маха́ть maxátʹ, помаха́ть pomaxátʹ, махну́ть maxnútʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | vẫy tay, vẫy |
| العربية | لَوَّحَ lawwaḥa, رَفْرَفَ rafrafa |
verb to have an undulating or wavy form
| Português | ondular |
|---|---|
| Français | onduler |
| Deutsch | wellen |
| Ελληνικά | κυματίζω kymatízo |
verb to produce waves to the hair
| Español | ondular |
|---|---|
| Português | ondear |
| Deutsch | ondulieren, wellen |
verb baseball: to swing and miss at a pitch
| Español | abanicar |
|---|
verb to cause to move back and forth repeatedly
| Español | tremolar, ondear |
|---|---|
| Português | agitar, ondear |
| Français | agiter, brandir |
| Deutsch | wedeln |
| Italiano | agitare |
noun moving disturbance, undulation
| Español | onda, ola, vaga |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 물결 mulgyeol, 파도 pado |
| 日本語 | 波 nami, 周波 shūha |
| 中文 | 波浪 bōlàng, 波 bō, 浪 làng |
| हिन्दी | लहर lahar, मौज mauj |
| Kiswahili | wimbi |
| Português | onda, vaga |
| Français | vague, flot |
| Deutsch | Welle, Woge |
| Italiano | onda |
| Ελληνικά | κύμα kýma |
| Română | val, undă, ondulație |
| Русский | волна́ volná, вал val |
| Tiếng Việt | sóng |
| العربية | مَوْج mawj, مَوْجَة mawja |
| עברית | גַּל gal |
noun moving disturbance in a field
| Español | onda |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 波 bō |
| Português | onda, ondulação |
| Français | onde |
| Deutsch | Welle, Wirbel |
| Italiano | onda |
| Русский | волна́ volná |
noun shape which alternatingly curves in opposite directions
| Español | onda |
|---|---|
| Português | onda, ondulação |
| Français | ondulation |
| Deutsch | Welle |
Talk about this word "wave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wave. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026. wave. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wave "wave." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wave.Cite this
@misc{wave_2026,
title = {wave},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wave},
urldate = {2026-11-05}
}
