To reverberate means to echo repeatedly or to continue having an effect long after the original event. When you shout in a canyon or empty gymnasium, the sound waves bounce off the walls and reverberate, creating echoing repetitions that fade gradually. Thunder reverberates across the sky, rolling and rumbling as the sound waves bounce between clouds and the ground.

The word also describes how events or ideas can echo through time. When a principal announces a major change at a school assembly, the effects reverberate through the entire community: students talk about it at lunch, parents discuss it at dinner, and teachers adjust their plans. Martin Luther King Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech reverberated far beyond that August day in 1963, influencing laws, attitudes, and movements for decades.

Something that reverberates doesn't just happen and disappear. It bounces around, spreads outward, and keeps making itself felt. A kind action might reverberate through your friend group, inspiring others to be kind too. A scientific discovery can reverberate through entire fields of research, changing how people think about problems for generations.