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Rivulet vs Torrent - What's the difference?

rivulet | torrent |

As nouns the difference between rivulet and torrent

is that rivulet is a small brook or stream; a streamlet while torrent is a violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.

As an adjective torrent is

rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.

As a verb torrent is

to download in a torrent.

rivulet

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A small brook or stream; a streamlet.
  • * (Charles Cotton) (1630-1687)
    • Rills running down the steepest slopes develop into rivulets .
  • *, chapter=23
    • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The struggle with ways and means had recommenced, more difficult now a hundredfold than it had been before, because of their increasing needs. Their income disappeared as a little rivulet that is swallowed by the thirsty ground.}}

    torrent

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) torrent

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
  • * (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
    • The roaring torrent is deep and wide.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.
  • (figurative) A large amount or stream of something.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 21, author=Helen Pidd, work=the Guardian
    • , title= Europeans migrate south as continent drifts deeper into crisis , passage=A new stream of migrants is leaving the continent. It threatens to become a torrent if the debt crisis continues to worsen.}}
  • * {{quote-book, passage=The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, / The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, / The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor ...
    • , title=, author=Alfred Noyes, year=1906}}
    Derived terms
    * torrential * torrentiality * torrentially

    See also

    * barrage * inundate * deluge * torrential

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.
  • * Milton
    • Waves of torrent fire.

    Etymology 2

    From BitTorrent and the file extension it uses for metadata (.torrent).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (Internet, file sharing) A set of files obtainable through a peer-to-peer network, especially BitTorrent.
    • I got a torrent of the complete works of Shakespeare the other day; I'm not sure why.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (internet slang) To download in a torrent.
    • The video rental place didn't have the film I was after, but I managed to torrent it.
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