REVERBERATE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does reverberate mean? 

• REVERBERATE (verb)
  The verb REVERBERATE has 6 senses:

1. ring or echo with sound

2. have a long or continuing effect

3. be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves

4. to throw or bend back (from a surface)

5. spring back; spring away from an impact

6. treat, process, heat, melt, or refine in a reverberatory furnace

  Familiarity information: REVERBERATE used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• REVERBERATE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they reverberate    ... he / she / it reverberates   
Past simple: reverberated   
Past participle: reverberated   
-ing form: reverberating   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Ring or echo with sound

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

echo; resound; reverberate; ring

Context example:

the hall resounded with laughter

Hypernyms (to "reverberate" is one way to...):

go; sound (make a certain noise or sound)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reverberate"):

consonate (sound in sympathy)

reecho (repeat or return an echo again or repeatedly; send (an echo) back)

reecho (echo repeatedly, echo again and again)

bong (ring loudly and deeply)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

The woods reverberate with many kinds of birds

Derivation:

reverberance (having the character of a loud deep sound; the quality of being resonant)

reverberant (having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected)

reverberation (the repetition of a sound resulting from reflection of the sound waves)

reverberative (characterized by resonance)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Have a long or continuing effect

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Context example:

The discussions with my teacher reverberated throughout my adult life

Hypernyms (to "reverberate" is one way to...):

die hard; endure; persist; prevail; run (continue to exist)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

reverberation (a remote or indirect consequence of some action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Context example:

the waves reverberate as far away as the end of the building

Hypernyms (to "reverberate" is one way to...):

reflect; reverberate (to throw or bend back (from a surface))

Verb group:

reflect; reverberate (to throw or bend back (from a surface))

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

reverberant (having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected)

Sense 4

Meaning:

To throw or bend back (from a surface)

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Synonyms:

reflect; reverberate

Context example:

Sound is reflected well in this auditorium

Verb group:

reverberate (be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves)

Domain category:

acoustics (the study of the physical properties of sound)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reverberate"):

reverberate (be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves)

mirror (reflect as if in a mirror)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

reverberant (having a tendency to reverberate or be repeatedly reflected)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Spring back; spring away from an impact

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

bounce; bound; rebound; recoil; resile; reverberate; ricochet; spring; take a hop

Context example:

These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide

Hypernyms (to "reverberate" is one way to...):

bound; jump; leap; spring (move forward by leaps and bounds)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "reverberate"):

kick; kick back; recoil (spring back, as from a forceful thrust)

bound off; skip (bound off one point after another)

carom (rebound after hitting)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Treat, process, heat, melt, or refine in a reverberatory furnace

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

reverberate ore

Hypernyms (to "reverberate" is one way to...):

process; treat (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

The tramp of several heavy footsteps reverberating through the old house broke in suddenly upon Lord Avon’s words.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My only answer was my own voice reverberating in a rolling echo from the cliffs around me.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An instant later steps crept down the passage—steps which were meant to be silent, but which reverberated harshly through the empty house.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Lord John lay silent, wrapped in the South American poncho which he wore, while Challenger snored with a roll and rattle which reverberated through the woods.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Thrice it swelled forth and thrice it sank away, echoing and reverberating amidst the crags.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I could imagine he was speaking the thoughts of his own mind as he read to me, and his voice, reverberating deeply and mournfully in the confined cabin, charmed and held me.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The abrupt sides of vast mountains were before me; the icy wall of the glacier overhung me; a few shattered pines were scattered around; and the solemn silence of this glorious presence-chamber of imperial Nature was broken only by the brawling waves or the fall of some vast fragment, the thunder sound of the avalanche or the cracking, reverberated along the mountains, of the accumulated ice, which, through the silent working of immutable laws, was ever and anon rent and torn, as if it had been but a plaything in their hands.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

"Miranha or Amajuaca cannibals," said Challenger, jerking his thumb towards the reverberating wood.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)