Bounce

How to spell bounce

6 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce bounce

What does bounce mean?

1. verbTo spring back or rebound after striking a surface, or to move in a lively, springing way.
2. nounA rebound, or a quality of springiness and energy.

Bounce in a sentence

• verb

  A tennis ball will bounce higher on a hard court than on grass.

• noun

  The new shampoo gave her hair noticeable bounce and shine.

• verb

  Toddlers love to bounce on the bed before bedtime.

• noun

  He caught the ball on the second bounce.

Where does bounce come from?

Language of origin: Other

Bounce first appears in Middle English as the verb bounsen, which meant to thump, beat, or strike noisily, rather than to rebound. The exact source is uncertain, but it is widely thought to be either imitative, echoing the dull thud of a blow, or borrowed from a Low German or Dutch form such as bunsen, meaning to beat or knock. Over the centuries the violent sense softened: from striking heavily, the word came to describe the leaping, springing motion of something that hits a surface and springs back, a meaning that took hold from around the sixteenth century. The modern figurative uses, such as a cheque that bounces when an account lacks funds, grew out of that idea of springing back rather than staying put. Because the spelling pairs the -ou- vowel with a -nce ending, writers occasionally hesitate over whether it should end in -nce or -nse, but the -ce form is the only standard one.

How the word is built

• bounce (from Middle English bounsen: to thump, leap); no separable affixes