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tide

noun · verb

Simple meaning

The periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

tyd
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtaɪd

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. The periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon

  2. The daily fluctuation in the level of the sea caused by the gravitational influence of the moon and the sun.

  3. The associated flow of water.

  4. A high-volume flow, literal or figurative; a current or flood.

  5. The tendency or direction of causes, influences, or events; course; current.

  6. Any similar gravitational effect on Earth or other body.

verb

  1. (by extension, originally from the idea of being carried by the tide, now chiefly in the phrase tide over) To carry over or through a problem or difficulty.

  2. transitive

    To cause to float with the tide; to drive or carry with the tide or stream.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon

Used this way, tide is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Where it naturally appears

  • Geography/travel
  • Weather/aviation
  • Technical/specialist writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use tide

  • “A rising tide of popular interest.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

high tidelow tiderising tideflood tidespring tidered tidefull tideincoming tide

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • tide oververbCompound term

    Suffice for a period between two points.

  • tide ripnounCompound term

    A stretch of turbulent water in a river or the sea caused by one current flowing into or across another current.

  • high tidenounCompound term

    The tide when the water is highest.

  • flood tidenounCompound term

    The highest point of anything conceived of as growing or developing or unfolding.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • tidewater rivernounRelated term

    A stream in which the effects of the tide extend far upstream.

  • tidewater streamnounRelated term

    A stream in which the effects of the tide extend far upstream.

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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.