Word.ws English Dictionary

ebb and flow

ebb and flow noun: the flowing out and in of the tide.

Noun

ebb and flow (plural ebbs and flows)

  1. The flowing out and in of the tide.
  2. (figuratively) A large flowing out and in, or any waxing and waning of fortunes or activity.
    • October 29 2001, The New Yorker Online
      I want to hear the roaring ebb and flow of Broadway.

Verb

ebb and flow (third-person singular simple present ebbs and flows, present participle ebbing and flowing, simple past and past participle ebbed and flowed)

  1. To recede and advance.
    • As true we are as flesh and blood can be: / The sea will ebb and flow, heaven show his facec. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  2. (figuratively) To wax and wane.
    • The quality of his service game varied as the contest ebbed and flowed, but landing 54% of his first serves over the whole match was a telling statistic.2025 June 8, Jonathan Jurejko, “Alcaraz stuns Sinner in extraordinary French Open final”, in BBC

ebb and flow meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Persian and Vietnamese

ebb and flow in Hindi

flowing out and in of the tide
ज्वारभाटा jvārbhāṭā

ebb and flow in Urdu

نشیب و فراز

ebb and flow in Persian

flowing out and in of the tide
جزر و مد jazr-o- mad

ebb and flow in Vietnamese

flowing out and in of the tide
lên voi xuống chó, thăng trầm

Forms of ebb and flow

Noun
pluralebbs and flows
Verb
third-person singular presentebbs and flows
present participleebbing and flowing
past participleebbed and flowed
pastebbed and flowed

Questions about ebb and flow

What does ebb and flow mean?
Ebb and flow means the flowing out and in of the tide.
What is ebb and flow in Hindi?
Ebb and flow in Hindi is ज्वारभाटा (jvārbhāṭā). See Ebb and flow meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is ebb and flow?
Ebb and flow can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of ebb and flow?
The plural of ebb and flow is ebbs and flows.

Words near ebb and flow in the dictionary

  1. eBayer
  2. eBayers
  3. eBaying
  4. eBays
  5. ebb
  6. ebb and flow
  7. ebb tide
  8. ebb tides
  9. Ebbage
  10. ebbe
  11. ebbed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ebb and flow (page history and authors); ebb and flow (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ebb and flow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ebb_and_flow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.