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
Chris Malloy, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 June 2020
To simulate clapping, kids could be hired to ride their bikes around the cart paths, with playing cards clipped to the bike frames to riffle in the spokes.
—Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 16 May 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
Two Guns spread through madly riffling brush, the path crunching under my hiking boots going uphill.
—Chris Malloy, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 June 2020
To simulate clapping, kids could be hired to ride their bikes around the cart paths, with playing cards clipped to the bike frames to riffle in the spokes.
—Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 16 May 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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And in presumably purple Miami-Dade County where Democrats had won every presidential election for 36 years, Latino voters flipped the county red.Rebecca Morin, USA TODAY, 8 Dec. 2024
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After letting your coffee sit on the counter or in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours, flip a switch and your brew cleanly drains into the decanter.Matthew Korfhage, WIRED, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
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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
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And importantly, the agency says, despite these wavelets of illness, severe outcomes like hospitalizations and deaths have been dropping since 2020 and 2021.Brenda Goodman, CNN, 1 Mar. 2024
Verb
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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
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The trees should leaf out normally.oregonlive, oregonlive, 11 June 2022
Noun
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Sill and Bill wore their curls to do some skating twirls.Stephanie Sengwe, People.com, 12 Dec. 2024
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Playing baseball outside left him with grass and dirt stuck in his curls.Jurnee Smollett, Vogue, 12 Dec. 2024
Verb
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The bass tones flowed thumbed beautifully and distortion-free from this 120-decibel speaker, thanks to the 6-by-9-inch woofer.Jakob Schiller, Outside Online, 1 Nov. 2024
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Rather than accommodating Washington, however, Netanyahu thumbed his nose at Obama in the United Nations, Congress, and other venues.Chris Miller, Foreign Affairs, 3 Nov. 2015
Noun
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Dances, roller skating, rock shows … there's plenty to see.Carrie Shepherd, Axios, 17 Dec. 2024
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More often than not—aside from my cold plunge era—this looks like a morning facial massage with a cryo roller for me.Kiana Murden, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2024
Verb
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Yet this action didn’t spur immediate instability across the market, even as some froth was helpfully skimmed away.Michael Santoli, CNBC, 14 Dec. 2024
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The cut shows off a little skin but tastefully skims the waist line with just the right amount of coverage.Michelle Mastro, Southern Living, 30 Nov. 2024
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
Thesaurus Entries Near riffle
Cite this Entry
“Riffle.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/riffle. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.
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