dive

[ dahyv ]

/ daɪv /

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verb (used without object), dived or dove, dived, div·ing.

to plunge into water, especially headfirst.

to go below the surface of the water, as a submarine.

to plunge, fall, or descend through the air, into the earth, etc.: The acrobats dived into nets.

Aeronautics. (of an airplane) to descend rapidly.

to penetrate suddenly into something, as with the hand: to dive into one's purse.

to dart: to dive into a doorway.

to enter deeply or plunge into a subject, activity, etc.

verb (used with object), dived or dove, dived, div·ing.

to cause to plunge, submerge, or descend.

to insert quickly; plunge: He dived his hand into his pocket.

noun

an act or instance of diving.

a jump or plunge into water, especially in a prescribed way from a diving board.

the vertical or nearly vertical descent of an airplane at a speed surpassing the possible speed of the same plane in level flight.

a submerging, as of a submarine or skin diver.

a dash, plunge, or lunge, as if throwing oneself at or into something: He made a dive for the football.

a sudden or sharp decline, as in stock prices.

Slang.

a dingy or disreputable bar or nightclub: Grab a beer with some locals at the dive on the corner.
any shabby, run-down place, especially a residence.

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.

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.

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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 dip¹

usage note for dive

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 WORDS FROM dive

post·dive, adjectivepre·dive, adjectiveun·der·dive, nounun·der·dive, verb (used without object), un·der·dived or un·der·dove, un·der·dived, un·der·div·ing.

Words nearby dive

divagate, divalent, divan, divaricate, divaricator, dive, dive bar, dive-bomb, dive bomber, dive bombing, dive brake

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use dive in a sentence

DeJoy recently shared a national chart with Congress showing on-time mail processing rates took a dive in July, though almost 95 percent is still on time or one day late, on average.
Info About Local Post Office Operations Is Conflicting and Hard to Come By|Ashly McGlone and Kate Nucci|August 27, 2020|Voice of San Diego
We already dug into the fact that Bing uses user engagement metrics in its search ranking factors and we did a deeper dive into some of Bing’s ranking factors.
Bing considers page quality before indexing|Barry Schwartz|August 26, 2020|Search Engine Land
The post A deeper dive into more of the Bing Search ranking factors appeared first on Search Engine Land.
A deeper dive into more of the Bing Search ranking factors|Barry Schwartz|August 25, 2020|Search Engine Land
Looking across a collection of long-standing Tinuiti advertisers, tablet spend growth for Google US paid search started to take a dive in Q4 2019, going from 5% growth last Q3 to 22% decline in the final quarter of the year.
2020 Google paid search trends that have nothing to do with the pandemic|Andy Taylor|August 25, 2020|Search Engine Land

The decline has been most acute for whiskey imports, which are down by almost 50%, with cognac and brandies seeing a similar dive.
Covid-19 and a trade war are a deadly mix for US liquor imports|Dan Kopf|August 21, 2020|Quartz
Not even after its parent company, the Soviet Union, took a dive in 1991.
Obama’s One Hand Clap With Castro|Doug McIntyre|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When used improperly those encouraging statistics take a nose dive.
Risky Business or None of Your Business? Gay XXX Films and the Condom Question|Aurora Snow|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The young goslings' first major life event is to cliff dive down to their parents, as was captured here by BBC cameras.
Barnacle Gosling’s Death-Defying Cliff Dive|Alex Chancey, The Daily Beast Video|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We wanted to create a dedicated hub where people can dive into it and get all this commentary on the news.
How Funny or Die Plans to Cover ISIS, Ebola and Elections|Asawin Suebsaeng|October 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They'd never be allowed to take their clothes off and dive in the way boys do.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq|Nathan Bradley Bethea|August 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then came the end: the Titanic, with a low long slanting dive went down and with her Thomas Andrews.
Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland|Joseph Tatlow
He'll immediately throw down his bunch of flowers and dive despairingly into the moat.
First Plays|A. A. Milne
He proved that one night when we picked up a quartet of drunks at a dive on the south end of our district.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various
I shoved through the door of the dive, Burke following close behind.
Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942|Various
Despite the speed of his dive, they were gaining on him, coming up fast; one snout that ended in a cupped depression was plain.
Astounding Stories, May, 1931|Various

British Dictionary definitions for dive

dive

/ (daɪv) /

verb dives, diving or dived or US dove or dived (mainly intr)

to plunge headfirst into water

(of a submarine, swimmer, etc) to submerge under water

(also tr) to fly (an aircraft) in a steep nose-down descending path, or (of an aircraft) to fly in such a path

to rush, go, or reach quickly, as in a headlong plungehe dived for the ball

(also tr; foll by in or into) to dip or put (one's hand) quickly or forcefully (into)to dive into one's pocket

(usually foll by in or into) to involve oneself (in something), as in eating food

soccer slang (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

a headlong plunge into water, esp one of several formalized movements executed as a sport

an act or instance of diving

a steep nose-down descent of an aircraft

slang a disreputable or seedy bar or club

boxing slang the act of a boxer pretending to be knocked down or outhe took a dive in the fourth round

soccer slang the act of a player pretending to have been tripped or impeded

Word Origin for dive

Old English dӯfan; related to Old Norse dӯfa to dip, Frisian dīvi; see deep, dip

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

dive

Origin of dive

usage note for dive

OTHER WORDS FROM dive

Words nearby dive

Words related to dive

How to use dive in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for dive

Word Origin for dive