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
Lauren Kent, CNN Money, 24 Jan. 2026
These failures are not without reverberating consequences.
—Jallicia Jolly, Forbes.com, 24 Jan. 2026
The surge underscores how a viral political image can reverberate far beyond social media, reshaping the fortunes of a small-cap company almost overnight.
—Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 22 Jan. 2026
That ongoing lack of supply has reverberated throughout the national housing market.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for reverberate
Cite this Entry
“Reverberate.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reverberate. Accessed 28 Jan. 2026.
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