as in to flip
to turn over pages in an idle or cursory manner
Web research is convenient but doesn't offer the tactile pleasures of riffling through heavy old books
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Recent Examples of riffle
Amy Schulman, PEOPLE.com, 6 May 2022
Two Guns spread through madly riffling brush, the path crunching under my hiking boots going uphill.
—Chris Malloy, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 June 2020
Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 14 Mar. 2024
Beneath our breathy hollers, a river runs dark, sprays of pebble -leaping riffles instantly aloft: Corona crowns the south: Hole edged with brimming sprays of light!
—Christopher Cokinos, Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2020
See All Example Sentences for riffle
Verb
Keep reading to check out more weekend deals, or head straight to Amazon to riffle through everything else that's on sale right now.
—Amy Schulman, PEOPLE.com, 6 May 2022
Two Guns spread through madly riffling brush, the path crunching under my hiking boots going uphill.
—Chris Malloy, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 June 2020
Noun
Why: Rainbows spawn in the spring as soon as the water temperature breaks 40 degrees, often making redds in the riffles above pools.
—Joe Cermele, Field & Stream, 14 Mar. 2024
Beneath our breathy hollers, a river runs dark, sprays of pebble -leaping riffles instantly aloft: Corona crowns the south: Hole edged with brimming sprays of light!
—Christopher Cokinos, Scientific American, 1 Mar. 2020
See All Example Sentences for riffle
Recent Examples of Synonyms for riffle
Verb
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About a dozen House conservatives ultimately flipped their opposition after receiving assurances from leaders that the Senate would pursue $1.5 trillion in savings, at a minimum.—
Kathryn Watson,
CBS News,
10 Apr. 2025
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Two of those districts -- Pennsylvania's 8th, represented by Rep. Robert Bresnahan, and Colorado's 8th, represented by Rep. Gabe Evans, were flipped by Republicans in the 2024 election.—
Oren Oppenheim,
ABC News,
10 Apr. 2025
Noun
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For example, complex analysis is used to manipulate wavelets, or small oscillations in data.—
William Ross,
The Conversation,
10 Mar. 2025
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Does the little surge of Trump dances across sports represent a wave, or at least a wavelet, of athletes declaring their allegiances for the President-elect?—
Louisa Thomas,
The New Yorker,
24 Nov. 2024
Verb
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This is because of the increasing demands for networking and switches to connect exponentially larger clusters, from spine to leaf in the front end and back end, rack to rack and accelerator to accelerator.—
Beth Kindig,
Forbes,
19 Dec. 2024
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Such a cacophony means that the reader keeps having to leaf back to make sense of the storyline.—
Ruth Margalit,
The New York Review of Books,
30 Mar. 2023
Noun
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Her glam featured her hair styled with soft curls and fringe to frame her face.—
Julia Teti,
Footwear News,
3 Apr. 2025
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Her bright blonde hair was styled in loose curls with a middle part, and her makeup was soft—just pink lips and a touch of blush.—
Robyn Merrett,
StyleCaster,
2 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Williams seemed to thumb his nose at the proceedings.—
Ronan Farrow,
The New Yorker,
24 Mar. 2025
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Maine high school athlete Cassidy Carlisle expounded on her message to Gov. Janet Mills as the state continued to thumb its nose as President Donald Trump and maintain its transgender-athlete policies in girls' and women’s sports.—
Ryan Gaydos,
Fox News,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Barnes’ potential as a playmaker as a roller — like Green — is immense.—
Eric Koreen,
New York Times,
9 Apr. 2025
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The next inning, Hall charged Hank Harrison’s slow roller, and again threw a strike to first to get the leadoff man in the fourth inning.—
John Maffei,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
3 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Enter the hollow-body frog, which will skim over the mats with ease.—
Joe Cermele,
Outdoor Life,
26 Mar. 2025
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In 2017, a previous version of the car skimmed a cyclist in London, leading to some bad press, so this latest iteration has been programmed not to overtake cyclists, horse riders, or anything slow-moving on the road.—
Carlton Reid,
Forbes,
14 Mar. 2025
Noun
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In the scope was one of the many tiny fish bones that were found that day, probably belonging to a small comber or a wrasse.—
Paul Greenberg,
Smithsonian Magazine,
21 Dec. 2022
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The destructive combers continued to undermine dwellings near the water’s edge at West Newport Beach.—
Scott Harrison,
Los Angeles Times,
4 Sep. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Riffle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riffle. Accessed 16 Apr. 2025.
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