waterfall
/ˈwoːtəfoːl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.54 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A flow of water over the edge of a cliff.
noun
A waterfall-like outpouring of liquid, smoke, etc.
noun
Example Sentences
- "Hello, my love, I heard a kiss from you / Red magic satin playing near too / All through the morning rain I gaze, the sun doesn't shine / Rainbows and waterfalls run through my mind"
- "A waterfall of mist came from the open freezer."
- "A very long project […] had taken a whole group of people through a painful waterfall development process."
- "Hey man, can I take a waterfall from your bottle?"
- "I found home a dreary place after my long absence; for half the children I had known were now wearing whiskers or waterfalls, […]"
- "Rain ran off the bill of his fielder's cap and waterfalled in front of his face."
Etymology
From Middle English waterfal, waterfalle, from Old English wæterġefeall (“waterfall”), equivalent to water + fall. Cognate with West Frisian wetterfal (“waterfall”), Dutch waterval (“waterfall”), German Wasserfall (“waterfall”), Swedish vattenfall (“waterfall”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: waterfal, wæterġefeall
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈwoːtəfoːl/
- British English: /ˈwɔːtəfɔːl/