wave
[verb]
Synonyms:
- signal, beckon, direct, gesticulate, gesture, indicate, sign
- flap, brandish, flourish, flutter, oscillate, shake, stir, swing, wag
[noun]
Synonyms:
- ripple, billow, breaker, ridge, roller, swell, undulation
- outbreak, flood, rash, rush, stream, surge, upsurge

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English Thesaurus: the sea, the ocean, waters, bay, gulf, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

Wave noun
American English informal a woman who is a member of a US navy volunteer¹ group

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

I. wave¹ S3 W2 /weɪv/ noun

1. SEA [countable] a line of raised water that moves across the surface of the sea:
Dee watched the waves breaking on the shore.
The ship tipped over, and finally vanished beneath the waves. ⇒ tidal wave

2. INCREASE [countable usually singular] a sudden increase in a particular type of behaviour, activity, or feeling:
There was a wave of public protest.

3. PEOPLE AND THINGS [countable] a sudden increase in the number of people or things arriving at the same time
wave of
a new wave of immigrants
They faced wave after wave of fresh troops.

4. LIGHT AND SOUND [countable] the form in which some types of energy such as light and sound travel
sound/light/radio wave ⇒ long wave, medium wave, short wave

5. SIGNAL [countable usually singular] a movement in which you raise your arm and move your hand from side to side:
He dismissed her with a wave of the hand.

6. FEELING/ACTIVITY [countable] a feeling or activity that happens again and again in a series:
The pain swept over him in waves.
Wave after wave of aircraft passed overhead.

7. HAIR [countable usually plural] a loose curl in your hair

8. make waves informal to cause problems, especially when you should not:
With so many jobs already cut, he didn’t want to make waves.

9. new wave a new style of music, art, film etc that is very different and unusual:
new wave music
new wave of
the new wave of Black feminist theorists

10. CROWD [countable usually singular] American English an occasion when many people who are watching an event stand up, move their arms up and down, and sit down again one after another in a continuous movement that looks like a wave moving on the sea Synonym : Mexican wave British English

11. the waves literary the sea
⇒ airwaves, shock wave

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. wave² S3 W3 verb
[Language: Old English; Origin: wafian 'to wave with the hands']

1. HAND [intransitive and transitive] to raise your arm and move your hand from side to side in order to make someone notice you
wave to/at
She turned to wave to the approaching soldiers.
Enid waved at us and we waved back.
wave (somebody) goodbye (=say goodbye to someone by waving to them)
The nurses came out to wave Grandad goodbye.

2. MOVE [intransitive and transitive] if you wave something, or if it waves, it moves from side to side:
The starter waved a green flag to indicate that the race would begin.
a tree waving in the breeze
He waved a hand in the air to attract her attention.
wave something under/at etc somebody/something
Trudie waved a $50 bill under his nose.
wave something around/about
The stranger spoke rapidly, waving his arms around.

3. SIGNAL [transitive always + adverb/preposition] to show someone which way to go by waving your hand in that direction
wave somebody through/on/away etc
The border guards waved us through.
Peter waved them back to their seats.

4. wave something goodbye/wave goodbye to something informal to be forced to accept that something you want will not happen:
If you’re not careful, you can wave goodbye to any pay rise this year.

5. wave a magic wand to make a bad situation better, even though this is impossible:
I can’t wave a magic wand and change what happened.

6. HAIR [intransitive and transitive] if hair waves, or if it is waved, it forms loose curls
wave something ↔ aside phrasal verb
to ignore someone’s opinion or ideas because you do not think they are important:
He waved her protests aside.
wave somebody/something ↔ down phrasal verb
to signal to the driver of a car to stop by waving at them:
People in passing cars tried waving him down.
wave somebody off phrasal verb
to wave goodbye to someone as they leave:
Are you coming to the station to wave me off?

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

wave
noun
I. on water
ADJ. big, enormous, giant, great, huge, mountainous | small, tiny | white-capped, white-crested, white-topped | breaking | tidal Several villages have been destroyed by a huge tidal wave.
VERB + WAVE ride Surfers flocked to the beach to ride the waves.
WAVE + VERB rise | break, fall We watched the waves breaking on the shore.
lap the gentle sound of waves lapping the sand
crash, roar, smash I could hear the waves crash against the rocks.
WAVE + NOUN energy, power
PREP. in the ~s children playing in the waves
on the ~s There were seagulls bobbing on the waves.
PHRASES the crash/crashing/lap/lapping of the waves, the crest of a wave (often figurative) She is on the crest of a wave at the moment following her Olympic success.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

wave
II. movement of energy
ADJ. electromagnetic, light, radio, seismic, shock, sound
VERB + WAVE emit, generate | deflect
WAVE + VERB bounce off sth, travel Sound waves bounce off objects in their path.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

wave
III. increase/spread
ADJ. big, enormous, huge, massive | fresh, new, next, recent | first, second, etc. the first wave of immigration in the 1950s
crime
VERB + WAVE send Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.
WAVE + VERB sweep (over) sth, wash over/through sb/sth With the fall of the Bastille in 1789, a wave of euphoria swept over Europe. A wave of relief washed over him as he saw that the children were safe.
PREP. ~ of a big wave of refugees

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

wave
IV. hand movement
ADJ. quick | cheery, friendly | farewell, parting
VERB + WAVE give (sb), return I returned his wave and started to walk towards him.
PREP. with a ~ | ~ of He dismissed her thanks with a quick wave of the hand.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

wave
verb
ADV. gently reeds waving gently in the breeze
vigorously | cheerfully, cheerily, happily | frantically, wildly They stood by the side of the road and waved frantically.
vaguely He waved a hand vaguely in the air.
dismissively | about/around, aside, back, on, through She waved cheerfully and he waved back. The guards waved us on.
VERB + WAVE turn and/to He turned to wave to his mother.
PREP. at We waved at the people on the shore.
to They waved to us as we passed. She waved him to a seat.
PHRASES wave (sb) goodbye people waving goodbye to their friends and relatives

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

wave

waves break (=fall onto the land or a boat)
We could hear the waves breaking on the shore.
waves crash (=fall noisily)
Huge waves crashed down on us.
waves lap (=hit something gently)
the sound of waves lapping against the boat
waves pound (=hit something hard)
The waves pounded the rocks.
sink/vanish beneath the waves
The ship sank beneath the waves.
a great wave (=a very large wave)
The storm sent great waves crashing into the cliffs.
a tidal wave (=a very large ocean wave that flows over the land and destroys things)
The winds and a tidal wave killed 45 people.
the ocean waves (=the sea)
They spent a week on the ocean waves on a cruise ship.
wave energy/power (=electricity from the movement of waves)
Wave power involves using the movement of the seas to generate electricity.
the crest of a wave (=the top of the wave where it begins to fall)
Surfers rode on the crest of a wave.
a wave of violence/attacks/bombings
The incident triggered a wave of violence.
a wave of panic/relief/sympathy
A wave of relief washed over Harry.
a wave of nausea/dizziness/tiredness
Another wave of nausea hit him.
a crime wave (=a sudden increase in crime)
The city is experiencing a crime wave.
a heat wave (=a period of unusually hot weather)
California is in the middle of a heat wave.
a wave hits somebody/something
He was hit by a wave of nausea every time he tried to stand up.
a wave engulfs somebody/something (=it affects someone or something very strongly)
The city was engulfed by a fresh wave of violence.
a wave sweeps/washes over somebody (=someone suddenly experiences a feeling or emotion)
A sudden wave of joy swept over her.
a great wave of something
A great wave of affection for him engulfed her.
a new/fresh wave of something
A fresh wave of fighting erupted in the region yesterday.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

the sea especially British English the large area of salty water that covers much of the Earth’s surface:
She lives by the sea.
The sea was very rough.
the ocean especially American English the large area of salty water that covers much of the Earth’s surface:
a house by the ocean
The restaurant had a sweeping view of the ocean.
waters a large area of water – used about an area of water that belongs to a particular country, or when describing what the water is like:
boats fishing in Canadian waters
British territorial waters
the calm waters of the harbour
dangerous waters
choppy waters (=with a lot of waves)
bay an area of sea that is partly enclosed by a curve in the land:
I swam across the bay.
the Bay of Biscay
gulf a very large area of sea partly enclosed by land:
the Gulf of Mexico
oil from the Gulf (=the area of water near Iran, Saudi Arabia etc)
tide the regular rising and falling of the level of the sea:
Is the tide going out or coming in ?
High tide (=when the sea is at its highest level)is at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.
low tide (=when the sea is at its lowest level)
The rocks are visible at low tide.
wave a line of raised water that moves across the surface of the sea:
The waves were crashing against the rocks.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲