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 Chivers, semafor.com, 30 Oct. 2025
Take the case of Quebec, which in 1997 launched a universal, $5-a-day child-care program, whose failures continue to reverberate today.
—Elliot Haspel, The Atlantic, 28 Oct. 2025
The effects of the shutdown have reverberated beyond just federal employees.
—Max Klaver, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2025
The film, which Jacir has spent eight years developing, centers on a group of Palestinian villagers whose lives are upended by British occupation, tracing the birth of a national movement that reverberates through generations.
—Clayton Davis, Variety, 23 Oct. 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 31 Oct. 2025.
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