torrent
pronunciation
How to pronounce torrent in British English:
UK [ˈtɒrənt]
How to pronounce torrent in American English:
US [ˈtɔːrənt]
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- Noun:
- a heavy rain
- a violently fast stream of water (or other liquid)
- an overwhelming number or amount
Word Origin
- torrent
- torrent: [17] Despite its firm connections with ‘water’, torrent comes from a source that meant ‘scorch, parch’. This was Latin torrēre, which also produced English toast and torrid [16] and is related to thirst. Its present participle torrēns was used metaphorically as an adjective of streams that ‘boil’ or ‘bubble’ because of their strong current, and it was in this sense that it passed as a noun via Italian torrente and French torrent into English.=> thirst, toast, torrid
- torrent (n.)
- "rapid stream," c. 1600, from Middle French torrent (16c.) and directly from Latin torrentem (nominative torrens) "rushing, roaring" (of streams), also "a rushing stream," originally as an adjective "roaring, boiling, burning, parching, hot, inflamed," present participle of torrere "to parch" (see terrain). Extension to any onrush (of words, feelings, etc.) first recorded 1640s.
Example
- 1. Get ready for a torrent of free services in its wake .
- 2. Economics is producing a torrent of research , coursing in all directions .
- 3. Like a torrent of water .
- 4. To make matters worse , the film has inspired a torrent of management drivel .
- 5. The removal of loan quota limits once the global recession hit may have unleashed a torrent of relaxed underwriting standards that will not be visible until the next downturn .