- plural of diva.
dive
Americanverb (used without object)
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to plunge into water, especially headfirst.
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to go below the surface of the water, as a submarine.
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to plunge, fall, or descend through the air, into the earth, etc..
The acrobats dived into nets.
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Aeronautics. (of an airplane) to descend rapidly.
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to penetrate suddenly into something, as with the hand.
to dive into one's purse.
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to dart.
to dive into a doorway.
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to enter deeply or plunge into a subject, activity, etc.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to plunge, submerge, or descend.
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to insert quickly; plunge.
He dived his hand into his pocket.
noun
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an act or instance of diving.
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a jump or plunge into water, especially in a prescribed way from a diving board.
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the vertical or nearly vertical descent of an airplane at a speed surpassing the possible speed of the same plane in level flight.
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a submerging, as of a submarine or skin diver.
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a dash, plunge, or lunge, as if throwing oneself at or into something.
He made a dive for the football.
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a sudden or sharp decline, as in stock prices.
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Slang.
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a dingy or disreputable bar or nightclub.
Grab a beer with some locals at the dive on the corner.
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any shabby, run-down place, especially a residence.
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Boxing. a false show of being knocked out, usually in a bout whose result has been prearranged.
to take a dive in an early round.
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Also called simulated contact. Soccer. a dramatic fall or feigned injury intended to persuade officials to penalize the opposing team.
His dive fooled the ref into giving his team a free kick.
verb
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to plunge headfirst into water
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(of a submarine, swimmer, etc) to submerge under water
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(also tr) to fly (an aircraft) in a steep nose-down descending path, or (of an aircraft) to fly in such a path
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to rush, go, or reach quickly, as in a headlong plunge
he dived for the ball
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(also tr; foll by in or into) to dip or put (one's hand) quickly or forcefully (into)
to dive into one's pocket
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to involve oneself (in something), as in eating food
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slang soccer (of a footballer) to pretend to have been tripped or impeded by an opposing player in order to win a free kick or penalty
noun
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a headlong plunge into water, esp one of several formalized movements executed as a sport
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an act or instance of diving
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a steep nose-down descent of an aircraft
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slang a disreputable or seedy bar or club
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slang boxing the act of a boxer pretending to be knocked down or out
he took a dive in the fourth round
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slang soccer the act of a player pretending to have been tripped or impeded
Usage
Both dived and dove are standard as the past tense of dive. Dived, historically the older form, is somewhat more common in edited writing, but dove occurs there so frequently that it also must be considered standard: The rescuer dove into 20 feet of icy water. Dove is an Americanism that probably developed by analogy with alternations like drive, drove and ride, rode. It is the more common form in speech in the northern United States and in Canada, and its use seems to be spreading. The past participle of dive is always dived.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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divesimple
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divessimple
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have divedperfect
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have doveperfect
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has divedperfect
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has doveperfect
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am divingprogressive
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are divingprogressive
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is divingprogressive
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have been divingperfect progressive
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has been divingperfect progressive
Past
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divedsimple
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dovesimple
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had divedperfect
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had doveperfect
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was divingprogressive
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were divingprogressive
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had been divingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dive
First recorded before 900; Middle English diven “to dive, dip,” Old English dȳfan “to dip” (causative of dūfan “to dive, sink”); cognate with Old Norse dȳfa “to dip,” German taufen “to baptize”; akin to dip 1
Explanation
To dive is to jump head first into the water. You might dare your friend to dive off a boat into a cold lake. When you dive, you plunge into a pool or other body of water. A bird or airplane also dives when it descends suddenly. The plunge or drop itself is also a dive: "When the plane went into a dive I had to close my eyes." Since 1871, dive has also been used informally for a low-rent or slightly dangerous bar, possibly from the idea that descending to a basement-level establishment involved a "dive" of sorts.
Vocabulary lists containing dive
"Hitching a Ride"
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Going Down: Synonyms for "Fall"
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Words with Two Past-Tense Forms That Creeped (or Crept) into English
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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:
After reviewing the recordings, Judah confirmed that a goblin shark had indeed been captured on video during a livestreamed dive at an unnamed seamount northwest of Jarvis Island.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
Look for clues to see which way to dive.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
So let’s dive, Scrooge McDuck–style, into the swampy details.
From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026
Nope, says a crack team of Nomura analysts who dazzled some on social media with a 119-page deep dive into the sector that was published Tuesday.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
They could either dive off the deck or walk down gently sloped ramps into the water.
From "Dog Squad" by Chris Grabenstein
The leaps and dives have rattled investors, raising worries that the artificial-intelligence rally that carried stocks to records could be coming to an end.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
During 32 dives to the site, explorers collected samples from 485 whale-fossil sites and active whale falls, and found a treasure trove of remains, including one extinct whale's skeleton.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
The sub took up to three people on the dives, collecting the fossil samples using robotic arms.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Our in-depth voter guide dives into the candidates, their positions, fundraising and endorsement.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2026
The girls swoon as he dives for cover.
From "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average, another beneficiary of the AI trade, declined 1.3% as Tokyo Electron 8035 -3.57%decrease; red down pointing triangle shed 2.45% and Kioxia Holdings 285A -11.13%decrease; red down pointing triangle dived 11%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
In early trade, Seoul's Kospi dived more than four percent with chip giants SK hynix and Samsung down around five percent each.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
So Michigan dived into the transfer portal—and shelled out more than $10 million over the entire roster—to remake 80% of its starting lineup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026
After rescinding Ream's caution, Makkelie instead booked former Newcastle United forward Almiron, who had clearly dived.
From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026
She added her clams to a bucketful in the canoe, secured the empty pouch back at her waist, held her nostrils closed with one hand, and dived back in.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
A survey of the Blean will focus on six endangered species that are found there, including the the heath fritillary butterfly, one of the UK's rarest, and the turtle dove.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Despite having been in basic training only eight months, he knew what that meant, and dove for the floor.
From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026
Warsh may be more of a dove on rates than he appears at first glance.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Then when I got the script and dove into it a little bit more, I was like ‘Ooh, this is a way no one has ever seen me.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2026
Up, up, up he went, high into the air, until he finally stopped and floated, just a tiny winged shape against the blue, and then he dove back to his mother.
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
“They started diving pretty close to me looking for food,” Ofek said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026
The easy definition of flopping or diving is faking an injury to get favorable treatment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
Racicot had accused Platner of behavior that was “unsettling” in a previous piece from the New York Times diving into his previous relationships.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
A resilient Gauff begins to claw her way back, but Muchova halts the American's momentum with a sensational diving volley.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
He charged forward, throwing himself onto the log, a graceless, diving motion just as the girl swept past.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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.
