Library / English Dictionary

TUMBLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sudden drop from an upright position

Example:

he had a nasty spill on the ice

Synonyms:

fall; spill; tumble

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tumble" is a kind of...):

slip; trip (an accidental misstep threatening (or causing) a fall)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tumble"):

pratfall (a fall onto your buttocks)

wipeout (a spill in some sport (as a fall from a bicycle or while skiing or being capsized on a surfboard))

Derivation:

tumble (fall suddenly and sharply)

tumble (fall down, as if collapsing)

tumble (cause to topple or tumble by pushing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An acrobatic feat of rolling or turning end over end

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("tumble" is a kind of...):

acrobatic feat; acrobatic stunt (a stunt performed by an acrobat)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tumble"):

flip; somersault; somersaulting; somerset; summersault; summerset (an acrobatic feat in which the feet roll over the head (either forward or backward) and return)

Derivation:

tumble (do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Do gymnastics, roll and turn skillfully

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

exercise; work out (do physical exercise)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tumble"):

roll (execute a roll, in tumbling)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

tumble (an acrobatic feat of rolling or turning end over end)

tumbler (a gymnast who performs rolls and somersaults and twists etc.)

tumbling (the gymnastic moves of an acrobat)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Suffer a sudden downfall, overthrow, or defeat

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

decline; worsen (grow worse)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Put clothes in a tumbling barrel, where they are whirled about in hot air, usually with the purpose of drying

Example:

Wash in warm water and tumble dry

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

toss (agitate)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Fall suddenly and sharply

Example:

Prices tumbled after the devaluation of the currency

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

drop (go down in value)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The stock market is going to tumble

Derivation:

tumble (a sudden drop from an upright position)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Understand, usually after some initial difficulty

Example:

She didn't know what her classmates were plotting but finally caught on

Synonyms:

catch on; cotton on; get it; get onto; get wise; latch on; tumble; twig

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

apprehend; compass; comprehend; dig; get the picture; grasp; grok; savvy (get the meaning of something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Throw together in a confused mass

Example:

They tumbled the teams with no apparent pattern

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

jumble; scramble; throw together (bring into random order)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 7

Meaning:

Roll over and over, back and forth

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

roll over (make a rolling motion or turn)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

tumbler (pigeon that executes backward somersaults in flight or on the ground)

tumbler (a movable obstruction in a lock that must be adjusted to a given position (as by a key) before the bolt can be thrown)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Fall down, as if collapsing

Example:

The tower of the World Trade Center tumbled after the plane hit it

Synonyms:

topple; tumble

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

come down; descend; fall; go down (move downward and lower, but not necessarily all the way)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tumble"):

keel over (turn over and fall)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

tumble (a sudden drop from an upright position)

Sense 9

Meaning:

Fall apart

Example:

Negotiations broke down

Synonyms:

break down; collapse; crumble; crumple; tumble

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

change integrity (change in physical make-up)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 10

Meaning:

Fly around

Example:

rising smoke whirled in the air

Synonyms:

tumble; whirl; whirl around

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP

Sense 11

Meaning:

Cause to topple or tumble by pushing

Synonyms:

tip; topple; tumble

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "tumble" is one way to...):

force; push (move with force)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

tumble (a sudden drop from an upright position)

Credits

 Context examples: 

"I thought you understood," he said slowly. "I thought you'd tumbled to it from his makin' up to me. He's my dog. His name ain't Wolf. It's Brown."

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

All the rest of the night I tossed and tumbled, framing theory after theory, each more unlikely than the last.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Ideas will tumble forth from you quickly and easily now, so catch each one and record it in your journal.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He passed, and I went on; a few steps, and I turned: a sliding sound and an exclamation of "What the deuce is to do now?" and a clattering tumble, arrested my attention.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

A process that removes water or volatile solvents from an agitated or tumbling bed of solids by relying on heat transfer from the equipment surface or a hot gas to the solid sample.

(Moving Bed Drying Method, NCI Thesaurus)

The rough-and-tumble environment near the center of the massive Coma galaxy cluster is no match for a wayward spiral galaxy.

(Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas, NASA)

Hyperion (168 miles, 270 kilometers across) rotates chaotically, essentially tumbling unpredictably through space as it orbits Saturn.

(Cassini Prepares for Last Up-close Look at Hyperion, NASA)

Poor Brandon! he is quite smitten already, and he is very well worth setting your cap at, I can tell you, in spite of all this tumbling about and spraining of ankles.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

As these molecules spin and tumble through space, they emit a distinctive fingerprint of millimetre-wavelength light, a process known as rotational transition.

(Stellar Corpse Reveals Origin of Radioactive Molecules, ESO)

Likewise he learned to romp with the master, to be tumbled down and rolled over, and be the victim of innumerable rough tricks.

(White Fang, by Jack London)