Did you know?
The letter sequence "v-e-r-b" in reverberate might make you think at first of such word-related brethren as proverb, verbal, and verbose, all of which derive from the Latin noun verbum, meaning "word." In fact, reverberate comes from a much different source: the Latin verb verberare, meaning "to whip, beat, or lash," which is related to the noun verber, meaning "rod." Reverberate entered the English language in the 15th century, and one of its early meanings was "to beat, drive, or cast back." By the early 1600s, it began to appear in contexts associated with sound that repeats or returns the way an echo does.
Examples of reverberate in a Sentence
Tom Soufi Burridge, ABC News, 28 Feb. 2025
With ongoing geopolitical shifts, the implications of the latest confrontation could reverberate well beyond the White House.
—Dan Perry, Newsweek, 28 Feb. 2025
Knock-on cuts to their admissions could follow, the effects of which might then reverberate into undergraduate education.
—Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 27 Feb. 2025
In a space even grander than that of the show itself, reverberating sounds filled the floor, accompanied by trays of burger sliders, mini corn dogs, and caviar sandwich bites.
—Jamila Stewart, Vogue, 24 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for reverberate
Cite this Entry
“Reverberate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverberate. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
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