Wavelike means moving or shaped in a way that resembles waves. When something moves in a wavelike motion, it flows up and down in smooth, rolling curves, like ocean waves rising and falling. A flag rippling in the wind moves in a wavelike pattern. When you do “the wave” at a sports stadium, the crowd creates a wavelike effect as people stand and sit in sequence.

The word can describe actual movement or static shapes. Hair that falls in gentle curves is wavelike. Hills rolling across a landscape can look wavelike. In science class, you might learn that light and sound travel in wavelike patterns, moving through space in rhythmic oscillations.

Snakes move with a wavelike motion, pushing their bodies in S-shaped curves. When you shake out a bedsheet and watch the ripple travel across the fabric, that's wavelike movement. The northern lights shimmer across the sky in wavelike curtains of color. Whether describing motion, shape, or pattern, wavelike captures that flowing, undulating quality that makes you think of water moving across the sea.