breaststroke
Americannoun
-
breaststrokes
plural
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of breaststroke
Explanation
The breaststroke is a swimming style that doesn't require you to turn your head or upper body. When you swim the breaststroke, your arms and legs make frog-like movements through the water. Many recreational swimmers use the breaststroke, which keeps you on your chest, popping your head straight up to take a breath between strokes. It's also the slowest competitive swimming stroke, but it still requires powerfully strong shoulders and arms. The frog kick part of the breaststroke propels you forward under water, and the arm movement happens as you come up for air.
Vocabulary lists containing breaststroke
Sisters in the Wind
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Earthquake Terror
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
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.
See Examples For:
The teenager is competing in the 50m breaststroke at the championships on Friday morning.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Great Britain's Angharad Evans won her first European Championship gold in the 100m breaststroke final in Paris.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
GB's Angharad Evans, 23, also claimed a new championship record in the women's 100m breaststroke semi-final with a time of 1:04.97.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
His time of 59.10 in Paris was 0.55secs faster than at the Commonwealth Games, where he was beaten by 18-year-old Nowacki, who made history for Jersey by claiming gold in the 200m breaststroke in Glasgow.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
Sasha was a strong swimmer, enthusiastic about breaststroke and intent on mastering the butterfly.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
He ping-ponged to breaststrokes, and then to floating.
From New York Times ● Aug. 29, 2014
He was trying for multiple gold medals at the 2004 Games after setting world records in the 100 and 200 breaststrokes at the trials and wound up with a silver and a bronze.
From New York Times ● Jul. 14, 2012
It is the map of an obstinate man with 737 doubles who still flings himself flat and breaststrokes like a gopher into second base.
From Time Magazine Archive
I know how to float how to dog paddle how to hold my breath between breaststrokes.
From "Bronx Masquerade" by Nikki Grimes
Descending the rickety ladder, I pushed off into the water and breaststroked to the deepest part, at the center, to avoid entanglement with hidden weeds and roots.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2020
Flossie breaststroked quietly around for a minute before swimming to the poolside nearest Shorty, where she rested, arms folded on the tile border, chin resting on her arms.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
He held his breath and breaststroked over to the rocky bench.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
Some members descended into the water in bathing suits and pointy witch hats, breaststroking around like black crows that had taken a turn for the aquatic.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2020
“At least there’s no wind,” McArthur cheerfully noted, as we started breaststroking toward the buoy.
From The New Yorker ● Jan. 20, 2020
Here, I swim through a canyon filled with green water of such violent luminosity that it's like breaststroking through a radioactive Midori cocktail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2013
He is a son of nearby Belle Harbor and speaks without bravado of plunging into the chest-high 50-degree waters and breaststroking past live wires to save a young mother and her children.
From New York Times ● Nov. 13, 2012
Wilcox’s dad was breaststroking people out of his way.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
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.
