FLOWING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flowing mean? 

• FLOWING (noun)
  The noun FLOWING has 1 sense:

1. the motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)

  Familiarity information: FLOWING used as a noun is very rare.

• FLOWING (adjective)
  The adjective FLOWING has 1 sense:

1. designed or arranged to offer the least resistant to fluid flow

  Familiarity information: FLOWING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLOWING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The motion characteristic of fluids (liquids or gases)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

flow; flowing

Hypernyms ("flowing" is a kind of...):

change of location; travel (a movement through space that changes the location of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flowing"):

fountain; jet (an artificially produced flow of water)

ebb; reflux (the outward flow of the tide)

backflow; backflowing (a flow that returns toward its source)

air flow; airflow; flow of air (the flow of air)

current; stream (a steady flow of a fluid (usually from natural causes))

freshet; spate (the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow)

overflow; overspill; runoff (the occurrence of surplus liquid (as water) exceeding the limit or capacity)

drippage; dripping (a liquid (as water) that flows in drops (as from the eaves of house))

discharge; outpouring; run (the pouring forth of a fluid)

flux; fluxion (a flow or discharge)

ooze; oozing; seepage (the process of seeping)

dribble; drip; trickle (flowing in drops; the formation and falling of drops of liquid)

emission (the occurrence of a flow of water (as from a pipe))

flush; gush; outpouring (a sudden rapid flow (as of water))

rush; spate; surge; upsurge (a sudden forceful flow)

Derivation:

flow (move along, of liquids)

• FLOWING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Designed or arranged to offer the least resistant to fluid flow

Synonyms:

aerodynamic; flowing; sleek; streamlined

Context example:

a streamlined convertible

Similar:

smooth (having a surface free from roughness or bumps or ridges or irregularities)

 Context examples 

Such orientations reveal a galaxy’s flowing arms and bright core in beautiful detail, but make it difficult to get any sense of a three-dimensional shape.

(A Galaxy on the Edge, ESO)

Rapidly flowing ice generally in the bottom of an ice sheet and flowing from the middle to the ice sheet margin.

(Ice streams, NOAA Paleoclimate Glossary)

Normally, these valves open to let blood flow through or out of your heart, and then shut to keep it from flowing backward.

(Heart Valve Diseases, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

It narrows the arteries, which keeps blood from flowing well.

(Giant Cell Arteritis, NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases)

In 2017, one group observed ripples flowing simultaneously in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) and the neocortex of rat brains and that this activity appeared to play a role in learning.

(Our brains may ripple before remembering, National Institutes of Health)

Two of its tributary glaciers also are flowing faster and thinning rapidly.

(Antarctica’s Larsen B Ice Shelf Nearing Its Final Act, NASA)

She was dressed in green silk gauze and wore upon her flowing green locks a crown of jewels.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Researchers also found that the young ice sheet was much wetter than it is today, with meltwater from the surface flowing into a network of channels beneath the ice.

(Massive East Antarctic Ice Sheet has history of instability, National Science Foundatio)

A second theory is that the magnetic field lines within the gas flowing towards Sgr A* could be tightly packed and become tangled.

(NASA’s Chandra Detects Record-Breaking Outburst from Milky Way’s Black Hole, NASA)

Since Mars once had flowing water, scientists say it is possible that similar microorganisms may be waiting there for the next opportunity to continue life.

(Scientists: Life Can Thrive in Most Extreme Environments, George Putic/VOA)