ebbing and flowing
Rising and falling
Ebbing and flowing describes the natural rhythm of rising and falling, advancing and retreating.
The phrase comes from tidal movement—water flows in toward shore, then ebbs back out.
Extended to anything that fluctuates cyclically: Her enthusiasm kept ebbing and flowing throughout the project.
The pattern suggests something natural and inevitable rather than chaotic.
- recedeMove back from
- subsideDecrease in intensity
- ocean wavesMoving ridges of seawater
- fluxContinuous change or flow
- push and pullOpposite directional forces
tidal · wane · waxing and waning · ebb · ebb tide · undulating · deflation · currents · coming and going · recharge · boom · lunar phases · bust · ups and downs · depletion · seasons · stagnation · billowing
ebbing and flowingconstant
Fixed, unvarying quantity
steady · unchanging · stable · fixed · static
ebbing and flowingstill
Unmoving, or continuing
motionless · stagnant · stationary · inert · dormant
flow, flowed, flowing, overflow, overflowing, overflows, overflowed, inflow, outflow