wave

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To move back and forth repeatedly and somewhat loosely.
2. (intransitive) To move one's hand back and forth (generally above the shoulders) in greeting or departure.
3. (metonymically, transitive) To call attention to, or give a direction or command to, by a waving motion, as of the hand; to signify by waving; to beckon; to signal; to indicate.
4. (intransitive) To have an undulating or wavy form.
5. (transitive) To raise into inequalities of surface; to give an undulating form or surface to.
6. (transitive) To style (the hair) so as to produce a wavy texture.
7. (intransitive) To swing and miss at a pitch.
8. (transitive) To cause to move back and forth repeatedly.
9. (metonymically, transitive) To signal (someone or something) with a waving movement.
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To fluctuate; to waver; to be in an unsettled state.
11. (ergative, intransitive) To move like a wave, or by floating; to waft.

Noun

1. A moving disturbance in the level of a body of liquid; an undulation.
2. (poetic) The ocean.
3. A moving disturbance in the energy level of a field.
4. A shape that alternatingly curves in opposite directions.
5. Any of a number of species of moths in the geometrid subfamily Sterrhinae, which have wavy markings on the wings.
6. A loose back-and-forth movement, as of the hands.
7. (figuratively) A sudden, but temporary, uptick in something.
8. Any of a series of orders to be fulfilled in one short interval of time, planned as part of wave picking.
9. (figuratively) A movement or trend in popular culture.
10. (broadly) One of the successive swarms of enemies sent to attack the player in certain games.
11. A group activity in a crowd imitating a wave going through water, where people in successive parts of the crowd stand and stretch upward, then sit.

Synonyms

swing

flutter

shake

🫨

sway

billow

brandish

flap

wag

ripple

surge

rock

🪨

flourish

beckon

undulate

dangle

fan

oscillate

swell

undulation

move

heave

curl

waggle

wield

flicker

breaker

surf

waving

toss

agitate

roll

roller

quiver

wave about

quake

whirl

sweep

gesture

dangling

stroke

fling

fly

✈️

waves

flapping

waft

tide

tremble

beat

stream

signal

Translations

Welle

👋

vague

👋

onda

👋

onde

👋

ola

👋

onda

👋

agiter

onda

👋

κύμα

golf

👋

unda

👋

se balancer

onduler

Woge

Pronounced as (IPA)

/weɪv/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: waven

Inherited from Old English: wafian

Cognate with Middle High German: waben

Cognate with German: wabern

Cognate with Icelandic: váfa

Inherited from Middle English: *wave

Inherited from Middle English: wawe

Inherited from Old English: wǣg

Cognate with Northern Frisian: weage

Cognate with German: Woge

Cognate with French: vague

Cognate with Gothic: 𐍅𐌴𐌲𐍃

In summary

From Middle English waven, from Old English wafian (“to wave, fluctuate, waver in mind, wonder”), from Proto-West Germanic *wabōn, from Proto-Germanic *wabōną, *wabjaną (“to wander, sway”), from Proto-Indo-European *webʰ- (“to move to and from, wander”).
Cognate with Middle High German waben (“to wave”), German wabern (“to waft”), Icelandic váfa (“to fluctuate, waver, doubt”). See also waver.