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flow. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
flow, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
flow in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
flow you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English flowe, from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.
Noun
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.
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: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.
- (mathematics) 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).
- (psychology) A mental state characterized by concentration, focus and enjoyment of a given task.
2014 January 14, Alex Lockwood, “How to achieve a state of flow when running”, in The Guardian: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.
- 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 slang) The ability to skilfully rap along to a beat.
The production on his new mixtape is mediocre but his flow is on point.
2003, “In da Club”, in Get Rich or Die Tryin', performed by 50 Cent: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 things
- (software) The sequence of steps taken in a piece of software to perform some action.
login flow
search flow
2015, Dan, “Best practices for tracking progress through a sign up flow”, in snowplow-user mailing list:I'm setting up event tracking for a pretty standard, multi-step signup flow, and I'm wondering [...]
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hyponyms
Derived terms
Translations
the movement of a fluid
- Arabic: تَدَفُّق m (tadaffuq)
- Armenian: հոսք (hy) (hoskʿ), հոսանք (hy) (hosankʿ)
- Asturian: fluxu m, fluxu m
- Basque: etorri
- Belarusian: цячэ́нне n (cjačénnje), плынь f (plynʹ), пато́к m (patók)
- Blackfoot: áwa'kimsska
- Breton: beradur m
- Bulgarian: тече́ние (bg) n (tečénie), пото́к (bg) f (potók)
- Catalan: flux (ca) m
- Chinese:
- Mandarin: 流 (zh) (liú)
- Chuvash: юх (juh)
- Czech: tok (cs) m, proudění n
- Danish: strøm (da) c
- Dutch: stroom (nl)
- Esperanto: fluo, alfluo
- Estonian: vool
- Finnish: virtaus (fi)
- French: écoulement (fr) m, flux (fr)
- Galician: fluxo m
- Georgian: დინება (dineba), დენა (dena)
- German: Fluss (de) m
- Greek: ροή (el) f (roḯ)
- Ancient: ῥεῦμα n (rheûma), ῥοία f (rhoía)
- Hindi: प्रवाह (hi) m (pravāh)
- Hungarian: áramlás (hu)
- Indonesian: alir (id)
- Irish: sreabh f, sileadh m
- Italian: flusso (it) m, colata (it) f, scorrimento (it) m
- Japanese: 流れ (ja) (ながれ, nagare)
- Karachay-Balkar: агъым (ağım)
- Kashubian: cec
- Korean: 흐름 (ko) (heureum)
- Latgalian: tekme
- Latin: fluxus
- Latvian: plūsma (lv) f
- Luhya: omuhula
- Macedonian: тек m (tek), тече́ние n (tečénie)
- Marathi: वाहने (vāhne)
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: урсгал (mn) (ursgal)
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: flom (no) m, strøm (no) m
- Plautdietsch: Fluss m
- Polish: przepływ (pl) m
- Portuguese: fluxo (pt) m, escoamento (pt) m, caudal (pt) m
- Romanian: curgere (ro) f
- Russian: тече́ние (ru) n (tečénije), пото́к (ru) m (potók)
- Sanskrit: रेतस् (sa) n (retas)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: то̑к m, тѐче̄ње n
- Roman: tȏk (sh) m, tèčēnje (sh) n
- Sicilian: flussu (scn) m
- Slovak: prúd m, tok m
- Slovene: tok (sl) m
- Southern Altai: агыш (agïš)
- Spanish: flujo (es) m
- Sundanese: kucur
- Swahili: mkondo (sw)
- Swedish: ström (sv) c, flöde (sv) n
- Telugu: ప్రవాహము (te) (pravāhamu)
- Turkish: akış (tr)
- Ukrainian: течі́я f (tečíja), те́ча f (téča), плин m (plyn), плив m (plyv), поті́к (uk) m (potík), струм m (strum)
- Uzbek: oqim (uz)
- Vietnamese: dòng chảy (vi)
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the rising movement of the tide
Translations to be checked
Further reading
Etymology 2
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.
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.
Wealth flows from industry and economy.
1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:Those thousand decencies that daily flow / From all her words and actions.
- (intransitive) To move or match smoothly, gracefully, or continuously.
The writing is grammatically correct, but it just doesn't flow.
1697, Virgil, “Dedication”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC:Virgil […] is […] sweet and flowing in his hexameters.
- (intransitive) To have or be in abundance; to abound, so as to run or flow over.
1845, John Wilson, The Genius and Character of Robert Burns:the exhilaration of a night that needed not the influence of the flowing bowl
- (intransitive) To hang loosely and wave.
a flowing mantle
flowing locks
1788, Publius [pseudonym; Alexander Hamilton], “Number LXVII”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, , volume II, New York, N.Y.: J. and A. M‘Lean, , →OCLC, page 222:[…] the imperial purple flowing in his train.
- (intransitive) To rise, as the tide; opposed to ebb.
The tide flows twice in twenty-four hours.
c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between.
- (transitive, computing) 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.
1932, Carl Ernest Reistle, Paraffin and Congealing-Oil Problems, volumes 340-349, page 45: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.
- (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.
Derived terms
Translations
to move as a fluid
- Acehnese: ile
- Afrikaans: vloei (af), stroom, loop (af)
- Aklanon: ilog, sueog
- Albanian: rrjedh (sq)
- Amharic: please add this translation if you can
- Andi: чвахуниду (čʷaxunidu)
- Arabic: تَدَفَّقَ (tadaffaqa)
- Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
- Armenian: հոսել (hy) (hosel)
- Aromanian: cur
- Assamese: বোৱা (büa), বৈ যোৱা (boi züa)
- Asturian: afluyir (ast), afluir (ast)
- Avar: чвахизе (čʷaxize)
- Aymara: please add this translation if you can
- Azerbaijani: axmaq (az)
- Bashkir: ағыу (ağıw)
- Belarusian: цячы́ impf (cjačý)
- Bengali: প্রবাহিত হওয়া (probahito hōẇa)
- Breton: deverañ, berañ (br)
- Bulgarian: тека (bg) (teka), лея се (leja se)
- Burmese: စီး (my) (ci:)
- Catalan: fluir (ca)
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 流 (lau4)
- Mandarin: 流 (zh) (liú)
- Cornish: frosa
- Czech: téct (cs), proudit (cs)
- Danish: strømme
- Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
- Dutch: vloeien (nl), stromen (nl)
- Esperanto: flui (eo)
- Estonian: voolama
- Even: эендэй (əjendəj)
- Evenki: эендеми (əjenʒemi)
- Ewe: please add this translation if you can
- Extremaduran: correl
- Faroese: floyma, streyma (fo), renna (fo)
- Fijian: kui (fj), sali
- Finnish: virrata (fi)
- French: couler (fr)
- Friulian: scori
- Galician: fluír (gl)
- Georgian: დინება (dineba), დენა (dena)
- German: fließen (de)
- Greek: ρέω (el) (réo), κυλώ (el) (kyló)
- Ancient: ῥέω (rhéō)
- Gujarati: please add this translation if you can
- Hausa: please add this translation if you can
- Hawaiian: kahe
- Hebrew: זרם (he) (zarám)
- Hindi: बहना (hi) (bahnā)
- Hungarian: folyik (hu)
- Icelandic: renna (is), streyma (is), flæða (is)
- Ido: fluar (io)
- Igbo: please add this translation if you can
- Indonesian: alur (id), alir (id), salur (id), salir (id)
- Ingrian: vallua
- Interlingua: fluer
- Irish: sreabh, snigh
- Old Irish: snigid
- Italian: fluire (it), scorrere (it)
- Japanese: 流れる (ja) (ながれる, nagareru)
- Javanese: kocor, mili (jv)
- Kannada: please add this translation if you can
- Khmer: ហូរ (km) (hoa)
- Korean: 흐르다 (ko) (heureuda)
- Lao: ໄຫຼ (lai)
- Latin: fluō
- Lithuanian: bė́gti (lt), tekė́ti
- Lü: ᦺᦜ (l̇ay)
- Luxembourgish: fléissen
- Malay:
- Jawi: الور, الير, سالور, سالير
- Rumi: alur (ms), alir, salur (ms), salir
- Malayalam: please add this translation if you can
- Manchu: ᡝᠶᡝᠮᠪᡳ (eyembi)
- Manx: sheel
- Maori: pūheke
- Marathi: वाहने (vāhne), वाहने (vāhne)
- Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
- Mongolian: цутгах (mn) (cutgax)
- Nanai: хэе- (heje-)
- Navajo: nílį́
- Norwegian: flomme, strømme, fløda, fløyma
- Odia: please add this translation if you can
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: тещи impf (tešti)
- Old East Slavic: течи impf (teči)
- Old Javanese: ili
- Pashto: please add this translation if you can
- Persian: please add this translation if you can
- Polish: płynąć (pl), przepływać (pl), ciec (pl) impf
- Portuguese: fluir (pt)
- Punjabi: please add this translation if you can
- Rajasthani: please add this translation if you can
- Romanian: curge (ro)
- Romansch: fluir
- Russian: течь (ru) impf (tečʹ), струи́ться (ru) impf (struítʹsja)
- Sanskrit: स्रवति (sa) (sravati), प्रवहति (sa) (pravahati)
- Sardinian: please add this translation if you can
- Scottish Gaelic: sruth, sil, ruith
- Serbo-Croatian: teći, тећи
- Shan: လႆ (shn) (lǎi)
- Sicilian: please add this translation if you can
- Sindhi: please add this translation if you can
- Sinhalese: ගලා යාම (galā yāma)
- Slovak: tiecť
- Slovene: teči (sl)
- Somali: please add this translation if you can
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: běžaś impf
- Spanish: fluir (es)
- Sundanese: kucur
- Swedish: strömma (sv), flyta (sv)
- Tabaru: uisi
- Tamil: please add this translation if you can
- Telugu: please add this translation if you can
- Tetum: suli
- Thai: ไหล (th) (lǎi)
- Turkish: akmak (tr)
- Turkmen: акмак
- Ukrainian: текти́ impf (tektý)
- Urdu: بہنا (bahnā)
- Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
- Uzbek: оқмоқ (oqmoq)
- Venetian: scórare
- Vietnamese: chảy (vi)
- Volapük: flumön (vo)
- Walloon: cori (wa)
- Welsh: llifo (cy)
- Wolof: please add this translation if you can
- Xhosa: please add this translation if you can
- Yiddish: פֿליסן (flisn)
- Yoruba: please add this translation if you can
- Zealandic: stroôme
- Zulu: goboza
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Translations to be checked
Etymology 3
Uncertain. Perhaps from Old Norse flói (“a large bay, firth”), see floe. Compare Scots flow (“peat-bog, marsh”), Icelandic flói (“marshy ground”).
Noun
flow (plural flows)
- (Scotland) A morass or marsh.
References
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Noun
flow m (plural flows)
- (rap, music) flow
- flow (style)
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English flow.
Noun
flow m
- (colloquial) flow (the ability to rap skillfully)
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English flow.
Pronunciation
Noun
flow m
- (colloquial) flow (the ability to rap skillfully)
- (colloquial, uncommon) flow (as in go with the flow)
- ir con el flow ― go with the flow