swish
Americanverb (used without object)
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to move with or make a sibilant sound, as a slender rod cutting sharply through the air or as small waves washing on the shore.
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to rustle, as silk.
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to move or behave in an exaggeratedly effeminate manner.
verb (used with object)
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to flourish, whisk, etc., with a swishing movement or sound.
to swish a cane.
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to bring, take, cut, etc., with such a movement or sound.
to swish off the tops of plants with a cane.
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to flog or whip.
noun
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a swishing movement or sound.
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a stock or rod for flogging or a stroke with this.
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to an effeminate gay man.
adjective
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. swishy.
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Chiefly British Informal. stylishly elegant; fashionable.
verb
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to move with or make or cause to move with or make a whistling or hissing sound
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(intr) (esp of fabrics) to rustle
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slang (tr) to whip; flog
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to cut with a swishing blow
noun
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a hissing or rustling sound or movement
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a rod for flogging or a blow from such a rod
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slang an effeminate male homosexual
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a W African building material composed of mortar and mud or laterite, or more recently of cement and earth
adjective
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informal fashionable; smart
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slang effeminate and homosexual
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has swishedperfect 3rd person singular
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have swishedperfect
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is swishingprogressive 3rd person singular
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has been swishingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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are swishingprogressive
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am swishingprogressive 1st person singular
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have been swishingperfect progressive
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swishingparticiple
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swishessingular 3rd person
Past
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had swishedperfect
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had been swishingperfect progressive
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were swishingprogressive plural
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was swishingprogressive singular
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swishedsimple
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swishedparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of swish
First recorded in 1750–60; imitative
Explanation
To swish is to make something rush or hiss as it moves, or to move this way yourself. A bike might swish past you on a wet sidewalk, and you might swish your long dress as you continue walking. A swish is the sound that's made when a person or thing swishes — the swish of a dish brush on a dirty pan in the sink, or the swish of water against a dock. A kite swishes through the air and so does a fencing epee or a fly swatter. In basketball, you swish when you make a clean basket, without the ball hitting the rim or the backboard. Swish is an example of onomatopoeia — when a word that sounds like its meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing swish
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The company provided cash to landlords and wealthy families to buy properties in swish London neighborhoods and throughout the U.K.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026
The swish of polyester skirts in spring pastels — lavender, mint, butter-yellow — as the women of the church organized the spread.
From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026
When it’s your turn, everyone gets into an oversize yellow inner tube, and you swish through an enclosed waterslide.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 7, 2026
Instead, what connects both failures was the fact they were again both drives - the first aggressive swish edged to the slips before a more tentative push.
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025
The straightness of the way, the swish of traffic, the unbroken speed are hypnotic, and while the miles peel off an imperceptible exhaustion sets in.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
