flow

The word “flow” means the continuous, smooth movement of a liquid, gas, or stream of things. In plain terms, a smooth, continuous movement — of water, traffic, conversation, or even someone's mental focus.

“Flow” is pronounced FLOH (/ˈfloʊ̯/ in IPA).

Here is “flow” used in a sentence: “The dam controls the flow of water into the valley.”

Words with a similar meaning to “flow” include course, flit, flux, fountain, fly and glide.

The opposite of “flow” — its antonyms — are ebb, halt and stutter.

Depending on how it is used, “flow” can be a noun and a verb.

The word “flow” dates back to around 1975 and comes from Old English. From Old English flowan ("to flow"). The psychological sense of total, effortless focus was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975.

“Flow” is a fairly common word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

Flow is the general, continuous movement of a fluid or stream of things — the water flowing in a river. A current is a specific body of that fluid moving in a particular direction, like an ocean current or an electric current. Flow describes the movement itself; a current is the moving stream.

Flow appears wherever something moves steadily and continuously. Water running through a pipe, air moving through a vent, blood circulating through veins, traffic streaming down a motorway, and even the flow of electricity or data all qualify. The common thread is smooth, ongoing movement rather than isolated, start-stop motion.

A fluid's flow rate depends mainly on pressure, the width of the channel, and the fluid's thickness, or viscosity. Higher pressure and wider pipes speed flow, while thick, sticky fluids and narrow passages slow it. Obstructions and friction along the walls also reduce how fast a liquid or gas can move.