flow

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
  2. The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
  3. A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.
  4. The rising movement of the tide.
  5. Smoothness or continuity.
  6. The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
  7. A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).
  8. A mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task.
  9. The emission of blood during menstruation.
  10. The ability to skillfully rap along to a beat.
  11. The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.
verb
  1. To move as a fluid from one position to another.
  2. To proceed; to issue forth; to emanate.
  3. To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
  4. To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
  5. To hang loosely and wave.
  6. To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
  7. To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
  8. To allow (a liquid) to flow.
  9. To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
  10. To cover with varnish.
  11. To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.
noun
  1. A bog or mire, especially a rough, waterlogged one.

Pronunciation

/ˈfləʊ̯/ [ˈfləʊ̯] /ˈflɵʊ̯/ [ˈflɵ̞ʊ̯] LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-flow.wav /ˈfloʊ̯/ [ˈfloʊ̯] /ˈflɔʊ̯/ [ˈflɔʊ̯] En-us-flow.ogg /ˈfləʉ̯/ [ˈfləʉ̯] /ˈflɘʉ̯/ [ˈflɘ̞ʉ̯] /ˈflɐʉ̯/ [ˈflɐ̝ʉ̯]

Word forms

flow flows flowing flowed

Etymology

From Middle English flowe, from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.

Translations

Albanian: rrjedhje Southern Altai: агыш Arabic: تَدَفُّق Armenian: հոսք Armenian: հոսանք Asturian: fluxu Basque: etorri Belarusian: цячэ́нне Belarusian: плынь Belarusian: пато́к Blackfoot: áwa'kimsska Breton: beradur Bulgarian: тече́ние Bulgarian: пото́к Catalan: flux Chinese Mandarin: 流 Chuvash: юх Czech: tok Czech: proudění Danish: strøm Dutch: stroom Dutch: een zijn met Esperanto: fluo Esperanto: alfluo Estonian: vool Finnish: virtaus Finnish: ykseys French: écoulement French: flux Galician: fluxo Georgian: დინება Georgian: დენა German: Fluss German: Tätigkeitsrausch Greek: ροή Greek: είμαι ένα με Ancient Greek: ῥεῦμα Ancient Greek: ῥοία Hindi: प्रवाह Hungarian: áramlás Indonesian: alir Irish: sreabh Irish: sileadh Italian: flusso Italian: colata Italian: scorrimento Japanese: 流れ Karachay-Balkar: агъым Kashubian: cec Korean: 흐름 Latgalian: tekme Latin: fluxus Latvian: plūsma Luhya: omuhula Macedonian: тек Macedonian: тече́ние Marathi: वाहने
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