Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Abounding or rising in waves.
  • adjective Marked by or moving in a wavelike form or motion; sinuous.
  • adjective Having curls, curves, or undulations.
  • adjective Characteristic or suggestive of waves.
  • adjective Wavering; unstable.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See wavey.
  • Abounding in waves.
  • Undulating in movement or shape; waving: as, wavy hair.
  • In botany, undulating on the border or on the surface. See cut under repand.
  • In heraldry, same as undé.
  • In entomology, presenting a series of horizontal curves: noting marks or margins. It is distinct from waved; but the two epithets are somewhat loosely used, and are sometimes interchanged.
  • In zoology, undulating; sinuous; waved; having waved markings.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Rising or swelling in waves; full of waves.
  • adjective Playing to and fro; undulating.
  • adjective (Bot.) Undulating on the border or surface; waved.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Rising or swelling in waves.
  • adjective Full of waves.
  • adjective Moving to and fro; undulating.
  • adjective Having wave-like shapes on its border or surface; waved.
  • adjective botany, of a margin Moving up and down relative to the surface; undulate.
  • noun Alternative form of wavey (goose).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective (of hair) having waves
  • adjective uneven by virtue of having wrinkles or waves

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See wavey.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

wave +‎ -y

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word wavy.

Examples

  • But the stereotyped use of the _bordure wavy_ in England with a set meaning, gives to the wavy variety a lack of desirability.

    The Handbook to English Heraldry Charles Boutell 1844

  • Thin wavy noodles were involved, and a Thai-like sauce.

    Weightlifting for Catholics 2005

  • Thin wavy noodles were involved, and a Thai-like sauce.

    Weightlifting for Catholics 2005

  • Sir Edgar was a fine, handsome man, of about thirty-five years of age, standing some five feet nine or ten inches in his stockings, well made, with dark brown hair that covered his head in short wavy curls.

    The Cruise of the "Esmeralda" Harry Collingwood 1886

  • I have been saying that oil is in a long term wavy down trend that will take some time to complete.

    FXstreet.com 2010

  • You then have to judge when your risotto is perfectly cooked, thick and creamy - the Italians actually describe the texture as 'wavy' - with a little bite in the centre of the grain.

    Telegraph.co.uk: news, business, sport, the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Sunday Telegraph 2010

  • The chimney-piece was very high, and there was a bad glass — what I may call a wavy glass — above it, which, when I stood up, just showed me my anterior phrenological developments, — and these never look well, in any subject, cut short off at the eyebrow.

    The Holly-Tree 2007

  • The chimney-piece was very high, and there was a bad glass — what I may call a wavy glass — above it, which, when I stood up, just showed me my anterior phrenological developments, — and these never look well, in any subject, cut short off at the eyebrow.

    The Holly-Tree 2007

  • In Java and the Moluccas, giant burrs on the stem give rise to finely figured gnarl wood (also called wavy or curly wood).

    Chapter 8 1996

  • In Java and the Moluccas, giant burrs on the stem give rise to finely figured gnarl wood (also called wavy or curly wood).

    Chapter 11 1990

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.