trickle charge

verb

Keeping a battery fully charged by charging it at a rate equal to its self-discharge rate.

Opposite
fast chargefast-charge
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Meanings

verbtrickle charge (third-person singular simple present trickle charges, present participle trickle charging, simple past and past participle trickle charged)

present singular third person trickle charges · participle present trickle charging · participle past trickle charged · past trickle charged

  1. Keeping a battery fully charged by charging it at a rate equal to its self-discharge rate.
  2. Charging a battery slowly, or by using a significantly smaller current than the battery is able to accept.
    1 more example

    GWR plans to use it on the Greenford branch in west London, making use of a fast charger at West Ealing that will charge the batteries in just three and a half minutes. This fast charger is essentially a battery installed at the lineside which is trickle-charged from the electricity grid. It can then discharge quickly into the train's batteries through charging rails and then start recharging itself while the train is running in service.

    2024 March 6, “Network News: GWR '230' sets UK battery record”, in RAIL, number 1004, page 13

Synonyms & antonyms

Opposite
fast chargefast-charge
Cite this entry
APA

trickle charge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trickle%20charge

MLA

“trickle charge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trickle%20charge. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “trickle charge,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/trickle%20charge.

Source: trickle charge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.