ebb
Other forms: ebbing; ebbed; ebbs
When something ebbs, it is declining, falling, or flowing away. The best time to look for sea creatures in tidal pools is when the tide is on the ebb — meaning it has receded from the shore.
Ebb is often used in the phrase, "ebb and flow," referring to the cyclical changing of the tides from low to high and back to low again. This sense of cyclical change can also be applied to other things. If you want to make money investing, you have to weather the ebb and flow of the stock market.
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the outward flow of the tide
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a gradual decline (in size or strength or power or number)
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type of:
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decline, diminution
change toward something smaller or lower
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decline, diminution
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flow back or recede
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fall away or decline“The patient's strength ebbed away”
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type of:
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recede
become faint or more distant
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recede
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hem in fish with stakes and nets so as to prevent them from going back into the sea with the ebb
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type of:
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beleaguer, besiege, circumvent, hem in, surround
surround so as to force to give up
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beleaguer, besiege, circumvent, hem in, surround
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Vocabulary lists containing ebb
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