# reverberate

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈvɜːbəˌɹeɪt/ · frequency rank #67,793

## Definitions
1. To cause (a sound) to be (repeatedly) bounced against one or more surfaces; to re-echo.
2. Followed by on (to): to deflect or divert (flames, heat, etc.) on to something.
3. To heat (something) by deflecting flames on to, or passing flames over, it.
4. To repeatedly reflect (heat, light, or other radiation).
5. To drive, force, or push (someone or something) back; to repel, to repulse.
6. To send (something) back from where it came.
7. 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).
8. To beat or hit (something) repeatedly.
9. Of sound: to (repeatedly) bounce against one or more surfaces; to echo or re-echo, to resound.
10. Chiefly followed by to or with: of a place or thing: to ring or vibrate with many echoing sounds; to re-echo, to resound.
11. Often followed by from: of heat or (less commonly) light: to be (repeatedly) reflected.
12. Of information, news, etc.: to be spread widely through repetition.
13. Of a thing: to have lasting and often significant effects.
14. Of a thing: to be heated by having flames, hot gases, etc., deflected or passed over it.
15. To deflect or divert flames, hot gases, etc., on or into something.
16. To shine on something, especially with reflected light.
17. Of a thing: to (repeatedly) bounce against one or more surfaces, especially with a sound; to rebound, to recoil.
18. Followed by on or upon, or to: of a thing: to return and affect a person, their feelings, etc.; to recoil.
19. Followed by in and a reflexive pronoun: of a thing: to turn back on itself.
20. Of a furnace, kiln, etc.: to heat up through the effect of flames, hot gases, etc., deflecting within it.
21. To heat something by deflecting flames on to, or passing flames over, it.

## Etymology
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”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs)).

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/reverberate