To bounce means to spring back after hitting a surface. A basketball bounces off the gym floor, a rubber ball bounces down the stairs, and a pebble bounces across the surface of a pond when you skip it just right. The word captures that moment when something hits, compresses, and then pops back up with energy.

Some things bounce well and others don't. Drop a tennis ball and it bounces high. Drop an egg and it splatters. Materials like rubber and certain plastics are bouncy because they store energy when compressed and release it quickly.

The word also describes energetic movement: an excited puppy might bounce around the room, and a child might bounce on their bed (until someone tells them to stop). When you're full of energy and can't sit still, you're bouncy.

In conversation, people bounce ideas off each other, testing thoughts by sharing them and seeing what comes back. A check bounces when there isn't enough money in the account to cover it. And if you bounce back from disappointment or failure, you recover your spirits and try again, like a ball that keeps springing up no matter how many times it hits the ground.