flow

/ˈfləʊ̯//ˈfloʊ̯/

flow noun: movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.

Image: Aleksandr Abrosimov, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

flow (countable and uncountable, plural flows)

Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
The movement of a real or figurative fluid.
- Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter IV, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 48
A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.
- The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations.
The rising movement of the tide.
Smoothness or continuity.
- The room was small, but it had good symmetry and flow.
The amount of a fluid that moves or the rate of fluid movement.
- Turn on the valve and make sure you have sufficient flow.
- Other devices measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice.
A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).
A mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task.
- The point about flow is that it is enjoyable. As research has shown "the more often athletes experienced flow, the happier they were." But the second is that entering flow actually improves performance.2014 January 14, Alex Lockwood, “How to achieve a state of flow when running”, in The Guardian
The emission of blood during menstruation.
- Tampons can be small or large, slender or thick. From “slender” to “super”, you can pick the size that matches your flow.
(rap music jargon) The ability to skillfully rap along to a beat.
- The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but his flow is on point.
- Now shawty said she feelin' my style, she feelin' my flow […] / My flow, my show brought me the dough / That bought me all my fancy things2003, “In da Club”, in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent
The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.
- login flow
- search flow

Verb

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

(intransitive) To move as a fluid from one position to another.
- Rivers flow from springs and lakes.
- Tears flow from the eyes.
(intransitive) To proceed; to issue forth; to emanate.
- Wealth flows from industry and economy.
- Thoſe thouſand decencies that daily flow ¶ From all her words and actions, mixt with Love1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...
(intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
- The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.
- […]Virgil,[…]is[…]ſweet and flowing in his Hexameters.1697, Virgil, “Dedication”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page [183]
(intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
- […]in that day, that[…]the hils ſhall flow with milke,[…]a fountaine ſhall come forth of the houſe of the Lord,[…]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joel 3:18–18, signature Ffff3, verso, columns 1–2
- the exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns
(intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.
- a flowing mantle
- flowing locks
(intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
- The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
- The Riuer hath thrice flow’d, no ebbe betweene:c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...
Synonyms:

come in, come up
(transitive) To arrange (text in a wordprocessor, etc.) so that it wraps neatly into a designated space; to reflow.
(transitive) To allow (a liquid) to flow.
- The action is usually progressive, and as a certain amount of oil is flowed from the tubing it lowers the pressure on the remaining oil and liberates more gas, thus causing additional oil to flow from the tubing.1932, Carl Ernest Reistle, Paraffin and Congealing-Oil Problems, volumes 340-349, page 45
(transitive) To cover with water or other liquid; to overflow; to inundate; to flood.
(transitive) To cover with varnish.
(intransitive) To discharge excessive blood from the uterus.

Noun (2)

flow (plural flows)

(Scotland) A bog or mire, especially a rough, waterlogged one.
- […] there are other extensive mosses in this district, commonly called flowes, which it is not probable ever will, or ever can be, converted into arable land. Some of these flowes are found to be 20, 25, or 30 feet deep, and are, besides, such a dead level, that the water has little or no descent...1794, John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland, volume 10, page 328
- Ye'll stick in some flow, Or, ye'll melt in a thow1871, Alexander Boswell, Poetical Works, page 213

flow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

flow in Hindi

the movement of a fluid: प्रवाह pravāh, बहाव bahāv
to move as a fluid: बहना bahnā

flow in Tamil

the movement of a fluid: ஓட்டம் ōṭṭam
being at one with: ஒன்றாக oṉṟāka
the rising movement of the tide: ஓதம் ōtam
smoothness or continuity: தொடர் toṭar

flow in Marathi

the movement of a fluid: वाहने vāhne
to move as a fluid: वाहने vāhne

flow in Urdu

to move as a fluid: بہنا bahnā

More languagesFewer languages

flow in Bengali: প্রবাহিত হওয়া probahito hōẇa
flow in Telugu: ప్రవాహము pravāhamu, ప్రవహించు pravahiñcu, పారు pāru
flow in Malayalam: പ്രവാഹം pravāhaṁ, ഒഴുക്ക് oḻukkŭ, ഒലി oli, വലു valu
flow in Kannada: ಹರಿ hari
flow in Punjabi: ਵਗਣਾ vagṇā, وگنا vagṇā, ਵਹਿਣਾ vahiṇā
flow in Gujarati: પ્રવાહ, વહેવું
flow in Odia: ଝରିବା jharibā, ବୋହିବା bohibā, ବହିବା bahibā
flow in Sanskrit: रेतस् retas, स्रवति sravati, प्रवहति pravahati
flow in Sinhala: ගලා යාම galā yāma
flow in Assamese: বোৱা büa, বৈ যোৱা boi züa
flow in Nepali: बग्नु bagnu
flow in Pashto: بهېدل bəhedə́l
flow in Arabic: تَدَفُّق tadaffuq, تَدَفَّقَ tadaffaqa, سَالَ sāla
flow in Malay: alur, alir, salur, salir
flow in Indonesian: alir, aliran, debit, alur
flow in Thai: ไหล lǎi
flow in Vietnamese: dòng chảy, chảy
flow in Myanmar: စီး ci:

Examples of flow in a sentence

I'm setting up event tracking for a pretty standard, multi-step signup flow, and I'm wondering [...]2015, Dan, “Best practices for tracking progress through a sign up flow”, in snowplow-user mailing list:
[…]the imperial purple flowing in his train.1788, Publius [pseudonym; Alexander Hamilton], “Number LXVII. Concerning the Conſtitution of the Preſident: A groſs Attempt to miſrepreſent...
[…] there are other extensive mosses in this district, commonly called flowes, which it is not probable ever will, or ever can be, converted into arable land.1794, John Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland, volume 10, page 328:
Had been roughly laid with bog-wood dug from the flowes,1895, Crockett, Moss-Hags page xlii

All 40 example sentences with flow

Synonyms of flow

8 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of flow

Forms of flow

Noun
plural	flows
Verb
third-person singular present	flows
present participle	flowing
past participle	flowed
past	flowed

Past tense of flow: flowed

Plural of flow: flows

Origin of flow

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

From Middle English flowen, from Old English flōwan (“to flow”), from Proto-West Germanic *flōan, from Proto-Germanic *flōaną (“to flow”), from Proto-Indo-European *plōw-, lengthened o-grade form of *plew- (“to fly, flow, run”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian flouje (“to flow”), West Frisian floeie (“to flow”), Dutch vloeien (“to flow”), Norwegian flo (“to flow”). Compare also English float. Not cognate with Latin fluō despite similarity.

Uncertain. Perhaps from Old Norse flói (“a large bay, firth”), see floe. Compare Scots flow (“peat-bog, marsh”), Icelandic flói (“marshy ground”).

Words formed from flow

Phrases with flow

64 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with flow

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about flow

What does flow mean?: Flow means movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
What is flow in Hindi?: Flow in Hindi is प्रवाह (pravāh), बहाव (bahāv), बहना (bahnā). See Flow meaning in Hindi.
How do you use flow in a sentence?: I'm setting up event tracking for a pretty standard, multi-step signup flow, and I'm wondering [...]
What part of speech is flow?: Flow can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce flow?: Flow is pronounced /ˈfləʊ̯/ (UK).
What is the plural of flow?: The plural of flow is flows.

Words near flow in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: flow (page history and authors); ഒലി (Malayalam) (page history and authors); ಹರಿ (Kannada) (page history and authors); وگنا (Punjabi) (page history and authors); flow (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); ଝରିବା (Odia) (page history and authors); बग्नु (Nepali) (page history and authors); بهېدل (Pashto) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-flow.wav, En-us-flow.ogg.

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