Definition of 'wave'

Word Frequency

wave

(weɪv )

Word forms: plural, 3rd person singular present tense waves , present participle waving , past tense, past participle waved

1. verb

If you wave or wave your hand, you move your hand from side to side in the air, usually in order to say hello or goodbye to someone.

Jessica caught sight of Lois and waved to her. [V to/at n]

He waved at the waiter, who rushed to the table. [V + to/at]

He grinned, waved, and said, 'Hi!' [VERB]

Elaine turned and waved her hand lazily and left. [VERB noun]

[Also VERB noun preposition]

Wave is also a noun.

Steve stopped him with a wave of the hand. [+ of]

Paddy spotted Mary Ann and gave her a cheery wave.

2. verb

If you wave someone away or wave them on, you make a movement with your hand to indicate that they should move in a particular direction.

Leshka waved him away with a show of irritation. [VERB noun adverb/preposition]

He waved the servants out of the tent. [VERB noun adverb/preposition]

3. verb

If you wave something, you hold it up and move it rapidly from side to side.

Hospital staff were outside to welcome him, waving flags and applauding. [VERB noun]

She was apt to raise her voice and wave her hands about. [VERB noun adverb/preposition]

-waving combining form

Hundreds of banner-waving demonstrators took to the streets.

...a flag-waving crowd.

4. verb

If something waves, it moves gently from side to side or up and down.

...grass and flowers waving in the wind. [VERB]

5. countable noun

A wave is a raised mass of water on the surface of water, especially the sea, which is caused by the wind or by tides making the surface of the water rise and fall.

...the sound of the waves breaking on the shore.

Synonyms: ripple, breaker, sea surf, swell More Synonyms of wave

6. countable noun

If someone's hair has waves, it curves slightly instead of being straight.

7. countable noun

A wave is a sudden increase in heat or energy that spreads out from an earthquake or explosion.

The shock waves of the earthquake were felt in Teheran. [+ of]

The blast wave crushed the breath from Neil, but he survived.

Synonyms: vibration, ripple, resonance, tremor More Synonyms of wave

8. countable noun [usually plural]

Waves are the form in which things such as sound, light, and radio signals travel.

Sound waves, light waves, and radio waves have a certain frequency.

9. countable noun

If you refer to a wave of a particular feeling, you mean that it increases quickly and becomes very intense, and then often decreases again.

She felt a wave of panic, but forced herself to leave the room calmly. [+ of]

A wave of sympathy for her swept Ireland.

The loneliness and grief comes in waves.

10. countable noun

A wave is a sudden increase in a particular phenomenon, activity, or type of behaviour, especially an undesirable or unpleasant one.

...the current wave of violence. [+ of]

...an even newer crime wave.

A vaccine may help in warding off a second wave of the pandemic next year.

Synonyms: outbreak, trend, rash, upsurge More Synonyms of wave

11. countable noun [usually singular, oft NOUN of noun]

A wave is a large number of people moving somewhere at the same time.

The rising violence sent a wave of refugees across the border.

Their commander ordered them forward in waves.

12. countable noun

If a crowd of people do the wave, each person in the crowd stands up and puts their arms in the air after the person to one side of them, then sits down again, creating a continuous wave-like motion through the crowd.

[US]regional note: in BRIT, use Mexican wave

13. See also long wave, medium wave, Mexican wave, new wave, short-wave, tidal wave

Phrasal verbs:

See wave aside

See wave down

More Synonyms of wave

Video: pronunciation of
wave

wave in British English

(weɪv )

verb

to move or cause to move freely to and fro

the banner waved in the wind

2. (intransitive)

to move the hand to and fro as a greeting

to signal or signify by or as if by waving something

4. (transitive)

to direct to move by or as if by waving something

he waved me on

to form or be formed into curves, undulations, etc

6. (transitive)

to give a wavy or watered appearance to ( silk, etc)

7. (transitive)

to set waves in (the hair)

noun

one of a sequence of ridges or undulations that moves across the surface of a body of a liquid, esp the sea: created by the wind or a moving object and gravity

any undulation on or at the edge of a surface reminiscent of such a wave

a wave across the field of corn

10. See the waves

11.

anything that suggests the movement of a wave, as by a sudden rise

a crime wave

12.

a widespread movement that advances in a body

a wave of settlers swept into the country

13.

the act or an instance of waving

14. physics

an oscillation propagated through a medium or space such that energy is periodically interchanged between two kinds of disturbance. For example, an oscillating electric field generates a magnetic oscillation and vice versa, hence an electromagnetic wave is produced. Similarly a wave on a liquid comprises vertical and horizontal displacements

15. physics

a graphical representation of a wave obtained by plotting the magnitude of the disturbance against time at a particular point in the medium or space; waveform

16.

a prolonged spell of some weather condition

a heat wave

17.

an undulating curve or series of curves or loose curls in the hair

18.

an undulating pattern or finish on a fabric

19. short for wave moth

20. See make waves

21. See ride the wave

Derived forms

waveless (ˈwaveless)

adjective

wavelessly (ˈwavelessly)

adverb

wavelike (ˈwaveˌlike)

adjective

Word origin

Old English wafian (vb); related to Old High German weban to weave, Old Norse vafra; see waver; C16 (n) changed from earlier wāwe, probably from Old English wǣg motion; compare wag1

Word Frequency

Wave in American English

(weɪv )

noun

a member of the WAVES

Word Frequency

wave in American English

(weɪv )

verb intransitiveWord forms: waved or ˈwaving

to move up and down or back and forth in a curving or undulating motion; swing, sway, or flutter to and fro

said of flexible things free at one end

flags waving in the breeze

to signal by moving a hand, arm, light, etc. to and fro

to have the form of a series of curves or undulations

hair that waves naturally

verb transitive

to cause to wave, undulate, or sway to and fro

to swing or brandish (a weapon)

to move or swing (something) as a signal; motion with (the hand, arms, etc.)

to signal (something) by doing this

to wave farewell

to signal or signify something to (someone) by doing this

he waved us on

to give an undulating form to; make sinuous

to wave one's hair

noun

a ridge or swell moving along the surface of a liquid or body of water as a result of disturbance, as by wind

an undulation or series of undulations in or on a surface, such as that caused by wind over a field of grain

a curve or series of curves or curls, as in the hair

an appearance of undulation, by reflection of light, on watered fabric

10.

a motion to and fro or up and down, such as that made by the hand in signaling

11.

something like a wave in action or effect

; specif.,

an upsurge or rise, as to a crest, or a progressively swelling manifestation

a crime wave, heat wave, wave of emotion, etc.

a movement of people, etc., in groups or masses, which recedes or grows smaller before subsiding or being followed by another

a wave of immigrants

12. OLD-FASHIONED, Poetic

water; esp., the sea or other body of water

13. Physics

a periodic motion or disturbance consisting of a series of many oscillations that propagate through a medium or space, as in the propagation of sound or light: the medium does not travel outward from the source with the wave but only vibrates as it passes

Idioms:

make waves

SYNONYMY NOTE: wave is the general word for a curving ridge or swell in the surface of the ocean or other body of water; , ripple1 is used of the smallest kind of wave, such as that caused by a breeze ruffling the surface of water; , roller is applied to any of the large, heavy, swelling waves that roll in to the shore, as during a storm; , breaker1 is applied to such a wave when it breaks, or is about to break, into foam upon the shore or upon rocks; , billow is a somewhat poetic or rhetorical term for a great, heaving ocean wave

Derived forms

waveless (ˈwaveless)

adjective

wavelike (ˈwaveˌlike)

adjective

waver (ˈwaver)

noun

Word origin

ME waven < OE wafian, akin to Ger waben, to fluctuate < IE *webh-, to move to and fro, prob. identical with *webh-, to weave

Word Frequency

wave in American English

(weiv) (verb waved, waving)

noun

a disturbance on the surface of a liquid body, as the sea or a lake, in the form of a moving ridge or swell

any surging or progressing movement or part resembling a wave of the sea

a wave of the pulse

a swell, surge, or rush, as of feeling or of a certain condition

a wave of disgust sweeping over a person

a wave of cholera throughout the country

a widespread feeling, opinion, tendency, etc

a wave of anti-intellectualism

the new wave of installment buying

a mass movement, as of troops, settlers, or migrating birds

an outward curve, or one of a series of such curves, in a surface or line; undulation

an act or instance of waving

a fluttering sign or signal made with the hand, a flag, etc

a farewell wave

natural waviness of the hair, or a special treatment to impart waviness

to have a wave in one's hair

to get a shampoo and a wave

10.

a period or spell of unusually hot or cold weather

11. Physics

a progressive disturbance propagated from point to point in a medium or space without progress or advance by the points themselves, as in the transmission of sound or light

12. literary

water

a body of water

the sea

13. (at sports events)

a momentary standing and sitting back down by spectators in a sequential, lateral way to create, en masse, a wavelike effect visually

14. See make waves

intransitive verb

15.

to move freely and gently back and forth or up and down, as by the action of air currents, sea swells, etc

The flags were waving in the wind

16.

to curve alternately in opposite directions; have an undulating form

The road waved along the valley

17.

to bend or sway up and down or to and fro, as branches or plants in the wind

18.

to be moved, esp. alternately in opposite directions

The woman's handkerchief waved in encouragement

19.

to give a signal by fluttering or flapping something

She waved to me with her hand

transitive verb

20.

to cause to flutter or have a waving motion in

A night wind waves the tattered banners

21.

to cause to bend or sway up and down or to and fro

The storm waved the heavy branches of the elm

22.

to give an undulating form to; cause to curve up and down or in and out

23.

to give a wavy appearance or pattern to, as silk

24.

to impart a wave to (the hair)

25.

to move, esp. alternately in opposite directions

to wave the hand

26.

to signal to by waving a flag or the like; direct by a waving movement

to wave a train to a halt

to wave traffic around an obstacle

27.

to signify or express by a waving movement

to wave a last good-bye

Derived forms

waveless

adjective

wavelessly

adverb

wavingly

adverb

wavelike

adjective

Word origin

[1325–75; ME waven (v.), OE wafian to wave the hands; c. MHG waben; cf. waver1]

Word Frequency

Wave in American English

(weiv)

noun

a member of the Waves

Also: WAVE

Word origin

[1942; see Waves]

Examples of 'wave' in a sentence
wave

These examples have been automatically selected and may contain sensitive content. Read more…

They suggested if she was having difficulties she would be waving her arms about more.But that is the sort of offence which should have been waved away.Wave a hand and it might display your messages.The rapid waves of cold air are pushed upwards by the mountains into the stratosphere.He declined to hold his mother's hand and looked awkward while waving to the crowds.I feel a sudden wave of anxiety.Rather than detecting reflected light waves to see objects, bats send out ultrasound waves and use the reflected sound to work out where things are. Photographs and video footage from the scene showed charred lorries, their frames buckled by blast waves and intense heat, and punctured by shrapnel.Then he waved the tablet again and said it was free that day.Why are there no good panel shows on medium wave radio?