bounce

verb
bouns

To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.

Example

“The tennis ball bounced off the wall before coming to rest in the ditch.”

Other meanings

To move quickly up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
“He bounces nervously on his chair.”
To cause to move quickly up and down, or back and forth, once or repeatedly.
“He bounced the child on his knee.”

Synonyms

take a hop
spring
bound

Related words

jounce
rebounce
bounceable
bounce back
bounceback
bouncedown
bounce around
bounce into
bounce off
bouncer
bouncing
debounce

Example sentences

“How did you bounce back from that?”
Tatoeba · shekitten · CC0
“Can the economy bounce back after the crisis?”
Tatoeba · Igider · CC0

Word history

From Middle English "bounsen".

Where this comes from

This definition is adapted from “bounce” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above; related-word lists use Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0, based on Princeton WordNet), published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.