reverberate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb ring or echo with sound
    ring; echo; resound.
    • the hall resounded with laughter
  2. verb have a long or continuing effect
    • The discussions with my teacher reverberated throughout my adult life
  3. verb be reflected as heat, sound, or light or shock waves
    • the waves reverberate as far away as the end of the building
  4. verb to throw or bend back (from a surface)
    reflect.
    • Sound is reflected well in this auditorium
  5. verb spring back; spring away from an impact
    spring; rebound; bound; bounce; take a hop; recoil; resile; ricochet.
    • The rubber ball bounced
    • These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide
  6. verb treat, process, heat, melt, or refine in a reverberatory furnace
    • reverberate ore

WordNet

Re*ver"ber*ate adjective
Etymology
L. reverberatus, p. p. of reverberare to strike back, repel; pref. re- re- + verberare to lash, whip, beat, fr. verber a lash, whip, rod.
Definitions
  1. Reverberant. Obs. "The reverberate hills." Shak.
  2. Driven back, as sound; reflected. Obs. Drayton.
Re*ver"ber*ate transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Reverberated ; present participle & verbal noun Reverberating
Definitions
  1. To return or send back; to repel or drive back; to echo, as sound; to reflect, as light, as light or heat.
    Who, like an arch, reverberates The voice again. Shak.
  2. To send or force back; to repel from side to side; as, flame is reverberated in a furnace.
  3. Hence, to fuse by reverberated heat. Obs. "Reverberated into glass." Sir T. Browne.
Re*ver"ber*ate intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To resound; to echo.
  2. To be driven back; to be reflected or repelled, as rays of light; to be echoed, as sound.

Webster 1913