MEANING
1. Water moving back after a wave, or disturbed backward by a passing boat or other movement.
2. An indirect effect or aftermath of an event, often one that causes further difficulties.
Use it for
describing water drawing back from shore; showing disturbed water behind a boat; portraying a returning wash rather than an incoming wave; building a coastal or waterside settingLinks a distinctive returning movement of water with the indirect aftermath of an event. Writing functions: Atmosphere and aftermath.
Words that belong together
- the backwash of a wave
- a boat’s backwash
- surging backwash
On the page
Pebbles clicked in the backwash as the wave withdrew.
The dinghy rocked in the ferry’s backwash long after its lights had passed.
The village felt the backwash of a conflict fought beyond the mountains.
Dismissals at the factory continued in the backwash of the failed merger.
Word forms
- Base
- backwash
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Usage notes
Water-movement sense usually uncountable; figurative effect often singular: the backwash of something. Do not force a plural for a continuous flow. Register: neutral. Commonness: moderately common (qualitative editorial estimate, informed by dictionaries/corpus).
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