flow
/ˈfloʊ̯/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.68 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Movement in people or things characterized with a continuous motion, involving either a non solid mass or a multitude.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A formalization of the idea of the motion of particles in a fluid, as a group action of the real numbers on a set.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A flow pipe, carrying liquid away from a boiler or other central plant (compare with return pipe which returns fluid to central plant).
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A mental state characterized by concentration, focus, and enjoyment of a given task.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda."
- "The notion of flow is basic to the study of ordinary differential equations."
- "The room was small, but it had good symmetry and flow."
- "Turn on the valve and make sure you have sufficient flow."
- "Other devices measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice."
- "The point about flow is that it is enjoyable. As research has shown "the more often athletes experienced flow, the happier they were." But the second is that entering flow actually improves performance."
Etymology
From Middle English flowe, from the verb (see below). The psychology sense “state of focus” was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈfloʊ̯/
- British English: /ˈfləʊ̯/