reverberate

Borrowed from Latin reverberātus, perfect passive participle of reverberō (“to rebound; to reflect; to repel”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), whence Middle French reverberer (French réverbérer) and Middle English reverberen (“to send back”)), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’) and verberō (“to beat; to lash, whip”) (from verber (“rod; lash, whip”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werbʰ-) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈvɜːbəˌɹeɪt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈvɜɹbəˌɹeɪt/, /ɹi-/

• Audio (General American):

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reverberate (third-person singular simple present reverberates, present participle reverberating, simple past and past participle reverberated)

1. (transitive)
   1. To cause (a sound) to be (repeatedly) bounced against one or more surfaces; to re-echo.
      • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid.  (First Quarto), London: G Eld for R Bonian and H Walley, , published 1609, →OCLC, , signature G, verso:

        o man is the Lord of any thing: / Though in and of him there be much conſiſting, / Till he communicate his parts to others, / Nor doth hee of himſelfe knovv them for aught: / Till he behold them formed in the applauſe. / VVhere th'are extended: vvho like an arch reuerb'rate / The voice againe or like a gate of ſteele: / Fronting the Sunne, receiues and renders back / His figure and his heate.

      • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “An Apologie of Raymond Sebond”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes , book II, London: Val Simmes for Edward Blount , →OCLC, page 273:

        oundes doe riſe / By mens force vnder feete, vvounded vvith noyſe / The hilles to heav'n reverberate their voyce.

      • 1656, Tho Stanley, “ Chap XVI. Of Living Creatures.”, in The History of Philosophy, the Second Volume, volume II, London: Humphrey Moseley, and Thomas Dring: , →OCLC, 8th part (Containing the Stoick Philosophers), page 114:

        hatſoever is moved is a body, but Voice is moved and reverberated from ſmooth places, as a ball againſt a VVall. So in the Ægyptian Pyramids, one Voice is redoubled four or five times.

      • 1835, , “ Arrival at the Abbey.”, in Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 2), Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 113:

        he corridor along which we were passing was built above these cloisters, and their hollow arches seemed to reverberate every footfall.

      • 1858 March 25 (date written), Nathaniel Hawthorne, “March 25th, ”, in Passages from the French and Italian Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume I, London: Strahan & Co., , published 1871, →OCLC, page 171:

        he guide took a large cannon-ball, and sent it, with his whole force, rolling down the hollow, arched way, rumbling and reverberating and bellowing forth long thunderous echoes, and winding up with a loud, distant crash, that seemed to come from the very bowels of the earth.

      • 1908, H G Wells, “Of Bladesover House, and My Mother; and the Constitution of Society”, in Tono-Bungay , Toronto, Ont.: The Macmillan Company of Canada, Ltd., →OCLC, 1st book (The Days before Tono-Bungay was Invented), section IV, page 17:

        They sat about in black and shiny and flouncey clothing adorned with gimp and beads, eating great quantities of cake, drinking much tea in a stately manner and reverberating remarks.

   2. Followed by on (to): to deflect or divert (flames, heat, etc.) on to something.

      Flame is reverberated in a furnace.

   3. (chemistry, metallurgy, archaic) To heat (something) by deflecting flames on to, or passing flames over, it.
      • 1610 (first performance), Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, London: Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, , published 1612, →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, signature , recto:

        Svb. I ſent you of his fæces there, calcin'd. / Out of that calx, I'ha'vvonne the ſalt of Mercurie. / Mam. By pouring on your rectefied vvater? / Svb. Yes, and reuerberating in Athanor.

      • 1642, , “”, in Religio Medici, London: Andrew Crooke, →OCLC, page 97:

        Philoſophers that opinioned the vvorlds deſtruction by fire, did never dreame of annihilation, vvhich is beyond the povver of ſublunary cauſes; for the laſt and proper action of that element is but vitrification, or a reduction of a body into Glaſſe, and therefore ſome of our Chymicks factiouſly affirme; yea, and urge Scripture for it, that at the laſt fire all ſhall be cryſtallized and reverberated into Glaſſe, vvhich is the utmoſt action of that element.

   4. (chiefly sciences) To repeatedly reflect (heat, light, or other radiation).
      • 1638, Tho Herbert, Some Yeares Travels Into Divers Parts of Asia and Afrique. , 2nd edition, London: R Bip for Iacob Blome and Richard Bishop, →OCLC, book II, page 135:

        Fifteen Moſques profeſſe their bravery, the tops dignified by many double guilded creſcents or ſpires vvhich gallantly reverberate Apollo’s yellovv flames in a rich and delightfull ſplendor.

      • 1662, Bartholinus , “Of the Heart in General”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, transl., Bartholinus Anatomy; , and from the Observations of All Modern Anatomists; together with His Own. With One Hundred Fifty and Three Figures; Cut in Brass, Much Larger and Better than Any have been heretofore Printed in English. In Four Books and Four Manuals, Answering to the Said Books. Book I. Of the Lower Belly. Book II. Of the Middle Venter or Cavity. Book III. Of the Uppermost Cavities, viz the Head. Book IV. Of the Limbs. The Four Manuals Answering to the Four foregoing Books. Manual I. Of the Veins, Answering to the First Book of the Lower Belly. Manual II. Of the Arteries, Answering to the Second Book of the Middle Cavity or Chest. Manual III. Of the Nerves, Answering to the Third Book of the Head. Manual IV. Of the Bones, Answering to the Fourth Book of the Limbs. Being Part of the First Volumn of the Physitians Library, Published by Nich. Culpeper Gent. and Abidah Cole Doctor of Physick.">…] (The Physitian’s Library), London: Peter Cole , →OCLC, 2nd book (Of the Middle Venter or Cavity), page 101, column 1:

        It hath thicker VValls, more compacted fleſhy Pillars, vvherevvith the heat is both more eaſily preſerved and reverberated, and the blood more ſtrongly driven.

      • 1704, , “A Discourse Concerning the Mechanical Operation of the Spirit. In a Letter to a Friend. A Fragment.”, in A Tale of a Tub.  To which is Added, An Account of a Battel between the Antient and Modern Books in St. James’s Library.">…], London: John Nutt, , published 1705, →OCLC, page 304:

        heſe , vvhen moiſtned vvith Svveat, ſtop all Perſpiration, and by reverberating the Heat, prevent the Spirit from evaporating any vvay, but at the Mouth;

      • 1821 (date written), Percy B Shelley, Hellas: A Lyrical Drama, London: Charles and James Ollier , published 1822, →OCLC, page 18:

        Swift in wide troops the Tartar chivalry / Sweep;—the far flashing of their starry lances / Reverberates the dying light of day.

      • 1843, , “Of Truth of Colour”, in Modern Painters , volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC, part II (Of Truth), section II (Of General Truths), § 10, page 126:

        Suppose, in the midst of the obscurity of the dim room and the smoke-laden atmosphere, there could suddenly have been poured the full glory of a tropical sunset, reverberated from the sea; How would you have shrunk, blinded, from its scarlet and intolerable lightnings!

   5. (obsolete)
      1. To drive, force, or push (someone or something) back; to repel, to repulse.
         • 1611, Thomas Coryate , “My Obseruations of the Most Glorious, Peerelesse, and Mayden Citie of Venice: ”, in Coryats Crudities Hastily Gobled Vp in Five Moneths Trauells , London: W S, →OCLC, page 160, lines 33–36:

           This banke is ſo neceſſary a defence for the Citie, that it ſerueth in ſteed of a ſtrong vvall to repulſe and reuerberate the violence of the furious vvaues of the Sea.

         • 1771, , “To Dr. Lewis”, in The Expedition of Humphry Clinker , volume I, London: W. Johnston, ; and B. Collins, , →OCLC, page 68:

           In blovving vveather, I am told, moſt of the houſes in this hill are ſmothered vvith ſmoke, forced dovvn the chimneys, by the guſts of vvind reverberated from the hill behind,

      2. To send (something) back from where it came.
      3. Of light or sound: to fall on or hit (a surface or other thing); also, to fill or spread throughout (a space or other thing).
         • 1608, Du Bartas, “. Adam. ">…].] The Handi-crafts. The IIII. Part of the I. Day of the II. Week.”, in Josuah Sylvester, transl., Du Bartas His Deuine Weekes and Workes .">…], 3rd edition, London: Humfrey Lownes ], published 1611, →OCLC, pages 291–292:

           Hovv ſtill your voice vvith prudent diſcipline / My Prentize ear doth oft reverberate;

      4. (rare) To beat or hit (something) repeatedly.
2. (intransitive)
   1. Of sound: to (repeatedly) bounce against one or more surfaces; to echo or re-echo, to resound.
      • 1725, , “Part II”, in A New Voyage Round the World, by a Course Never Sailed before. , London: A Bettesworth, ; and W. Mears, , →OCLC, page 79:

        innumerable Rills and Brooks of VVater falling from the Clifts, making a barbarous and unpleaſant Sound; and that Sound eccho'd and reverberated from innumerable Cavities and Hollovvs among the Rocks,

      • 1850, Govind Sing , “Translation of the ‘Vichitra Nátak’ or ‘Beautiful Epitome,’—a Fragment of the Sikh Granth Entitled ‘The Book of the Tenth Pontiff’. Chapter I. There is One God.”, in G. Siddons, transl., Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume XIX, number VII (number XLIII overall), Calcutta: Printed by J. Thomas, Baptist Mission Press, published 1851, →OCLC, page 522:

        Sometimes as an echo thou reverberatest pleasantly, now as a huntsman thou killest with arrows.

      • 1872, William Black, “In the Fairy Glen”, in The Strange Adventures of a Phaeton.  In Two Volumes.">…], 3rd edition, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 31:

        At length we got to the neighbourhood of the Fairy Glen, and found ourselves in among the wet trees, with the roar of the stream reverberating through the woods.

      • 1959, Moore Raymond, Smiley Roams the Road, London: Hulton Press, →OCLC, page 131:

        It did not occur to him to be afraid of the vivid fork lightning or the loud thunder that reverberated down the valley.

   2. Chiefly followed by to or with: of a place or thing: to ring or vibrate with many echoing sounds; to re-echo, to resound.
      • 1669, George Wither, “A Preface to the Following Review, Offering somewhat therewith Considerable”, in Fragmenta Prophetica. Or, The Remains of George Wither, Esq; , London: Printed, and are to be sold at Temple-Barr, and in Bishops-gate-street, →OCLC, signature B, verso:

        This Revievv is in the firſt place entituled, An Eccho from the Sixth Trumpet; becauſe, it alluſively reverberateth, and Ecchoes, as it vvere, to vvhat vvas predicted ſhould come to paſs betvveen the ſounding of the Sixth and Seventh Trumpet

        A figurative use.

      • 1834, L E L, chapter XXII, in Francesca Carrara.  In Three Volumes.">…], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, , (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 239:

        The depths of its old forest reverberated to the echoing thunder, and many a stately tree stood scorched and blackening, to whose withered boughs spring would now return in vain.

      • 1835, , “ The Rook Cell.”, in Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 2), Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 196:

        After a time, the whole fraternity would be in a flutter; some balancing and swinging on the tree tops, others perched on the pinnacles of the Abbey church, or wheeling and hovering about in the air, and the ruined walls would reverberate with their incessant cawings.

   3. Often followed by from: of heat or (less commonly) light: to be (repeatedly) reflected.
   4. (figurative)
      1. Of information, news, etc.: to be spread widely through repetition.
         • 1759, , “Of the Present State of Polite Learning in Italy”, in An Enquiry into the Present State of Polite Learning in Europe, London: R and J Dodsley, , →OCLC, page 63:

           They vvait till ſomething nevv comes out from others, examine its merits, and reject it, or make it reverberate throughout the reſt of Europe.

      2. Of a thing: to have lasting and often significant effects.
         • 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, 8th edition, London: Thomas Davison, , for John Murray, , →OCLC, page 31, lines 640–642:

           The shock—the shout—the groan of war— / Reverberate along that vale, / More suited to the shepherd's tale:

         • 2014 November 17, Roger Cohen, “The horror! The horror! The trauma of ISIS ”, in The New York Times‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 April 2022:

           What is unbearable, in fact, is the feeling, 13 years after 9/11, that America has been chasing its tail; that, in some whack-a-mole horror show, the quashing of a jihadi enclave here only spurs the sprouting of another there; that the ideology of Al Qaeda is still reverberating through a blocked Arab world whose Sunni-Shia balance (insofar as that went) was upended by the American invasion of Iraq.

   5. (rare) Of a thing: to be heated by having flames, hot gases, etc., deflected or passed over it.
   6. (obsolete)
      1. To deflect or divert flames, hot gases, etc., on or into something.
      2. To shine on something, especially with reflected light.
         • 1620 November 20 (Gregorian calendar), James Howell, “XXII. To Mr. Tho Porter, after Capt. Porter, from Barcelona.”, in Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar Letters Domestic and Forren.  With a Fourth Volume of New Letters, Never Publish’d before.">…], 3rd edition, volume I, London: Humphrey Mosley, , published 1655, →OCLC, section I, page 31:

           ou ſeem'd to reverberate upon me vvith the beams of the Sun, vvhich you knovv hath ſuch a povverful influence, and indeed too great a ſtroke in this Country:

         • 1657, Samuel Purchas, “Of the Grasshopper”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. , London: R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, , →OCLC, pages 199–200:

           Theſe Vermine are as great as a great Graſhopper, and have yellovv vvings, vve knovv of their coming a day before, not becauſe vve ſee them, but vve knovv it by the Sun, vvhich ſhevveth his beams of a yellovv colour, vvhich is a ſigne that they dravv near the Country, and the ground becoming yellovv, through the light vvhich reverberateth from their vvings, vvhereupon the people become ſuddenly as dead men, ſaying, vve are undone, for the Locuſts come.

      3. Of a thing: to (repeatedly) bounce against one or more surfaces, especially with a sound; to rebound, to recoil.
         • 1837, Washington Irving, chapter XVII, in The Rocky Mountains: Or, Scenes, Incidents, and Adventures in the Far West; , volume I, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 177:

           A stone dropped into one of them reverberated against the sides for apparently a very great depth, and, by its sound, indicated the same kind of substance with the surface, as long as the strokes could be heard.

      4. Followed by on or upon, or to: of a thing: to return and affect a person, their feelings, etc.; to recoil.
         • 1839 January, February, April, Thomas De Quincey, “William Wordsworth”, in Autobiographic Sketches: With Recollections of the Lakes (De Quincey’s Works; II), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 244:

           he made all that one could tell her, all that one could describe, all that one could quote from a foreign author, reverberate, as it were, à plusieurs reprises , to one's own feelings, by the manifest impression it made upon hers.

      5. (rare) Followed by in and a reflexive pronoun: of a thing: to turn back on itself.

         A beam of light shone into the interior of a mirrored sphere would reverberate in itself.

      6. (rare) Of a furnace, kiln, etc.: to heat up through the effect of flames, hot gases, etc., deflecting within it.
      7. (chemistry, metallurgy) To heat something by deflecting flames on to, or passing flames over, it.

• reverbate (rare)
• reverberant
• reverberantly
• reverberation

Borrowed from Latin reverberātus, see Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more. sense 2 (“ringing or vibrating with many echoing sounds”) was popularized by its use in Twelfth Night (written c. 1601–1602; published 1623) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616): see the quotation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈvɜːbəɹət/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɹəˈvɜɹbəɹət/, /ɹi-/
• Hyphenation: re‧verb‧er‧ate

reverberate (comparative more reverberate, superlative most reverberate)

1. Synonym of reverberant (“that tends to reverberate (“(repeatedly) bounce against one or more surfaces”) or has reverberated”); re-echoed.
   • 1604, Tho Dekker, “And thus Went His Speech”, in The Magnificent Entertainment: Giuen to King Iames, Queene Anne His Wife, and Henry Frederick the Prince, vpon the Day of His Maiesties Tryumphant Passage (from the Tower) through His Honourable Citie (and Chamber) of London, being the 15. of March. 1603. , London: T C, Humphrey Lownes, Edward Allde and others] for Tho Man the yonger, →OCLC, signature I, recto:

     So vvith reuerberate ſhoutes our Globe ſhall ring, / The Muſicks cloſe being thus: God ſaue our King.

   • 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Ninth Song”, in , editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, , London: for M Lownes; I Browne; I Helme; I Busbie, →OCLC, page 134:

     The loftie Hills, this vvhile attentiuely that ſtood, / As to ſurvey the courſe of euery ſeuerall Flood, / Sent forth ſuch ecchoing ſhoutes (vvhich euery vvay ſo ſhrill, / VVith the reverberate ſound the ſpacious ayre did fill)

   • 1867 October 1, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “Matthew Arnold’s New Poems”, in Essays and Studies, London: Chatto and Windus, , published 1875, →OCLC, page 160:

     "Dover Beach" marks another high point in the volume; it has a grand choral cadence as of steady surges, regular in resonance, not fitful or gusty but antiphonal and reverberate.

3. (rare) Ringing or vibrating with many echoing sounds; re-echoing, resounding, reverberating.
   • c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 259, column 2:

     Make me a vvillovv Cabine at your gate, / And call vpon my ſoule vvithin the houſe, / / Hallovv your name to the reuerberate hilles, / And make the babling Goſsip of the aire, / Cry out Oliuia:

   • 1605 January 16 (first performance; Gregorian calendar), Ben Jonson, “The Queenes Masques. The First, of Blacknesse:  . Æthiopia.”, in The Characters of Two Royall Masques. The One of Blacknesse, the Other of Beautie. , London: ">…] for Thomas Thorp,  Paules Church-yard.">…], published , →OCLC, signature B3, verso:

     I vvas that bright Face / Reflected by the Lake, in vvhich thy Race / Read mysticke lines; (vvhich skill Pithagoras / Firſt taught to men, by a reuerberate glaſſe)

   • 1814, Edward, Lord Thurlow , “Part the Second”, in Ariadne: A Poem, , London: William Bulmer and Co., Shakespeare Press, for Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, , →OCLC, page 34, lines 578–579:

     Thrice his horse neigh'd, and the reverberate hills / Gave back the image of his voice,

• reverberation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

reverberāte

1. vocative masculine singular of reverberātus

reverberate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of reverberar combined with te