tidal wave
noun
Simple meaning
An unusual rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tyduhlwayvSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtaɪdəlˈweɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide
A large and sudden rise and fall in the tide.
oceanography
A crest of ocean water resulting from tidal forces.
proscribed
A large, sudden, and disastrous wave of water caused by a tremendous disturbance in the ocean; a tsunami.
proscribed
A large, sudden inundation of water from the storm surge, or waves of that surge; a sudden surge of river water.
figuratively
A sudden and powerful surge.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An unusual (and often destructive) rise of water along the seashore caused by a storm or a combination of wind and high tide
Used this way, tidal wave is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.