Movement of Liquids Vocabulary in English

Learning a language takes a lot of dedication (commitment) and effort. If you want to become fluent in a language, you have to learn a lot of vocabulary. Some interesting vocabulary in English has to do with the movement of liquids. Movement of liquids vocabulary, similar to water vocabulary, has to do with the amount (how much there is) of the liquid, and if there’s anything blocking it (in the way).

Are you ready to take your English to the next level? Then read on to learn about some movement of liquids vocabulary!

Flow

A liquid that has nothing blocking it at all will flow. Flowing is when a liquid moves steadily (strongly) and continuously (without stop) from one place to another. Think of a river. Rivers flow from point A to point B and are usually not interrupted (stopped). The water in a river flows all the time and doesn’t stop. If you turn on a faucet (what water comes out of in a bathroom or kitchen), water will flow from there, as well.

For example:

• The water flowed down the river and over the waterfall.
• After the plumber fixed the pipes, the water flowed out of the faucet in the kitchen like normal.

Pour

How do you get a liquid out of something like a teapot or a coffee pot? You have to pour it out! When using movement of liquids vocabulary, we exclusively (in one way) use pour to talk about moving a liquid from one container to another. Think of pouring tea from a teapot into a cup or pouring yourself a glass of water. What kind of liquids do you like to pour yourself?

For example:

• The host poured his guests a glass of wine at the start of the meal.
• Could you please pour me some more coffee? Mine has gone cold.

Gush

You may not have heard the word gush before. It’s a great movement of liquids vocabulary word to know! To gush is for liquid to move in a rapid (fast) and plentiful stream. Water may gush out of a faucet after it’s been fixed or water can gush in a stream out in nature. No matter what, for a liquid to gush, it has to be moving quickly and there has to be a lot of it.

For example:

• The stream gushed down the mountainside after the snow melted.
• The water gushed into the bathtub as I filled it up. I couldn’t wait to take a relaxing bath!

Trickle

Have you ever turned on a faucet and had only a little bit of water come out? Then this is one of the liquids vocabulary words you’ll have to know! A trickle is the movement of liquid in a very small stream (flow of water). Very little liquid is coming out. This could be because something is blocking the flow, like a clogged pipe in a house, or maybe a bunch of rocks out in nature. Think of a trickle like a very, very small stream. There’s a little liquid moving, but not much.

For example:

• The stream moved in a trickle. It was so hot, that most of the water had dried up.
• The water is only coming out of the faucet in a trickle. Do you think we should call a plumber?

Drip

Liquids can move in very small amounts. It can even move in drops. This would be called dripping. When you make coffee in a coffee maker, the coffee drips through the filter and into the coffee pot- this is why it’s call “drip coffee”! A faucet that leaks usually drips as well, with only one drop of water coming out at a time. A drip is the very slow movement of a very small amount of liquid.

For example:

• I tried to pour myself a coffee, but some of it dripped out of my mug.
• As the icicles above the garage melted, water dripped onto the driveway.

Did you know any of these movement of liquids vocabulary words? Are there any others you can think of? Let us know in the comments below!