trickling

IPA/ˈtrɪk.əl/
KK[trˈɪklɪŋ]IPA/ˈtrɪk.əl/

trickling — verb

  • tricklingpresent simple I / you / we / they
  • tricklings3rd person singular
  • tricklinging-ing form
  • tricklingedpast simple

1. a liquid moving slowly along a narrow path or falling in small separate drops

1.verbintransitiveB2
Definition

a liquid moving slowly along a narrow path or falling in small separate drops

Example

Ari watched rainwater trickling down the window of his flat.

trickling + down + noun (direction of flow)

Jisoo noticed blood trickling from a small cut on her finger.

trickling + from + noun (source of liquid)

Common collocations
  • trickling down
  • trickling from
  • trickling over
  • trickling off
Synonyms
  • dripping

    falls in separate drops rather than a thin connected stream

  • seeping

    moves through small holes or pores, often invisible from the surface

  • streaming

    flows more strongly and in a greater volume, often with pressure

Grammar Patterns

trickling + down/from/into/through + noun

Usage Note

Subject is always a liquid — water, blood, sweat, paint, oil, or similar. Never used with solid objects.

Common Mistakes

Water was dripping down the glass in a thin line.
Water was trickling down the glass in a thin line.
'dripping' means separate drops falling one by one; 'trickling' means a thin but connected stream.

2. people, things, or information arriving at or leaving a place slowly and in smal

2.verbintransitiveC1
Definition

people, things, or information arriving at or leaving a place slowly and in small numbers, spread over a period of time

Example

Tomás watched guests trickling into the hall before the wedding started.

trickling + into (people arriving at a place)

Dewi checked the charity's bank account, but donations were trickling in very slowly.

trickling in (money arriving gradually)

Common collocations
  • trickling in
  • trickling out
  • trickling back
  • trickling through
Synonyms
  • drifting in

    suggests aimless or unplanned slow arrival rather than a steady pattern

  • filtering through

    implies passing through something (a system, a crowd) bit by bit

Antonyms
  • flooding

    arriving or appearing in very large numbers all at once

Grammar Patterns

trickling + in/out/into/through + noun

Usage Note

Subject can be people, money, information, or other countable things. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about gradual arrival or emergence, not about liquid movement.

Common Mistakes

The fans were flooding into the stadium.' (when meaning gradual arrival)
The fans were trickling into the stadium.
'flooding' means arriving in very large numbers all at once, the opposite of 'trickling.'

trickling — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

Trickling describes a thin, slow, continuous stream of liquid — think of water running down a window in a narrow path. Dripping means liquid falls in separate, individual drops (a tap dripping once per second) without forming a connected line. Seeping refers to liquid passing slowly through small holes or porous material, often invisibly — groundwater seeping into a basement happens out of sight, whereas trickling is visible on a surface. Streaming implies a stronger, faster, and often wider current — tears streaming down someone's face is heavier and more rapid than tears trickling. Flowing is the most general term: it describes any smooth, steady movement of liquid without specifying speed or volume; a river flows, but you would not say a river trickles unless it has nearly dried up.

dripping ↗seeping ↗streaming ↗flowing ↗

Common collocations

Adverbs

  • trickling slowly

Prepositions

  • trickling into
  • trickling through

Etymology

Middle EnglishEnglish

Trickling comes from the verb trickle, which appeared in Middle English as triklen. It is probably related to Middle Dutch druppelen ('to drip'). The word originally described only the movement of liquids. By the 1800s, English speakers began using it figuratively for the slow, gradual movement of people, money, and information — a sense that is now common in news and business language.

First known use

14th century

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a Noun