bounce

1. 1.

   spring back; spring away from an impact

   “The rubber ball bounced”

   “These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide”

   Synonymsresiletake a hopspringboundreboundrecoilreverberatericochet

   Broaderjump

   Narrowerkick backskipcarom
2. 2.

   hit something so that it bounces

   “bounce a ball”

   Broaderhit

   Narrowerbounce out
3. 3.

   move up and down repeatedly

   Synonymsjounce

   Broadertravel
4. 4.

   come back after being refused

   “the check bounced”

   Antonymsclear

   Broaderreturn
5. 5.

   leap suddenly

   “He bounced to his feet”

   Broaderjump
6. 6.

   refuse to accept and send back

   “bounce a check”

   Broaderrefuse
7. 7.

   eject from the premises

   “The ex-boxer's job is to bounce people who want to enter this private club”

   Broadereject

1. 1.

   the quality of a substance that is able to rebound

   Synonymsbounciness

   Broaderelasticity
2. 2.

   a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards

   Synonymsleapleapingspringsaltationbound

   Broaderjump

   Narrowercaperpounce
3. 3.

   rebounding from an impact (or series of impacts)

   Synonymsbouncing

   Broaderrecoil

Other forms of bounce

plural

bounces·

past tense

bounced·

present participle

bouncing·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about bounce

What does bounce mean?

bounce means "spring back; spring away from an impact". That is the primary sense; the word has 10 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in bounce?

bounce has 1 syllable: bounce. In IPA it is /ˈbaʊns/.

What is another word for bounce?

Close synonyms include resile, take a hop, spring, bound, rebound. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of bounce?

The recorded antonyms are clear.

Is bounce a common word?

bounce is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.