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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
Matt Richardson, CBS News, 13 May 2026
Victim remembered as Detroit hardcore icon Barger’s killing reverberated through Detroit’s underground music scene.
—Anthony Thompson, USA Today, 13 May 2026
Defaults may ‘reverberate through the credit space’ The rise in student loan defaults comes as more borrowers must resume payments after years of relief.
—Annie Nova, CNBC, 12 May 2026
The Meltdown‘s themes and experiences resonate well beyond the specific historical moment, also reverberating in today’s world full of division and conflict, Martelli says.
—Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 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 17 May. 2026.
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