- plural of diva.
dive
Americanverb (used without object)
-
dives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dived,
past participle, past
-
dove,
past participle, past
-
diving
present participle
-
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.
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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.
-
to dart.
to dive into a doorway.
-
to enter deeply or plunge into a subject, activity, etc.
verb (used with object)
-
dives,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dived,
past participle, past
-
dove,
past participle, past
-
diving
present participle
-
to cause to plunge, submerge, or descend.
-
to insert quickly; plunge.
He dived his hand into his pocket.
noun
-
dives
plural
-
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.
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a sudden or sharp decline, as in stock prices.
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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.
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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
-
to plunge headfirst into water
-
(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
-
(also tr; foll by in or into) to dip or put (one's hand) quickly or forcefully (into)
to dive into one's pocket
-
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
-
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
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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
-
divesimple
-
divessimple
-
have divedperfect
-
have doveperfect
-
has divedperfect
-
has doveperfect
-
am divingprogressive
-
are divingprogressive
-
is divingprogressive
-
have been divingperfect progressive
-
has been divingperfect progressive
Past
-
divedsimple
-
dovesimple
-
had divedperfect
-
had doveperfect
-
was divingprogressive
-
were divingprogressive
-
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:
Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were heading for fourth and fifth places in the sprint when Norris made a dive down the inside of his team-mate at Turn Five on the final lap.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
In this list, our writers recommend the best episodes that you can dive into right away—without having to commit to the whole series.
From Slate ● Oct. 9, 2026
That’s why people sell their stocks in a panic during a market correction and/or go heavy in gold, dive headfirst into bonds and cash vehicles instead, only to regret it later.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2026
He attempted to dive on the ball, but he was hit in the back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
The thought made my stomach feel like it wanted to dive out of me and hide somewhere.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
She does deep dives on technology, politics, antitrust and other subjects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Researchers collected the newly described species between September 2023 and August 2024 during dives reaching depths of up to 18 meters.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 25, 2026
The goal, says Six Flags, is to provide an optimistic view of the future, albeit with many sudden dives and weightless moments.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026
Over two days in July, his team did eight one-hour dives, exploring the undersides of rocky reefs to count the eggs.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
After many dives and examinations, it was determined that the layers of silt that had covered the submarine for so long had preserved it well enough that it could be brought to the surface intact.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix passed for two second-half touchdowns and dived one yard for a touchdown with 47 seconds left.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
New Zealand had ducked and dived to minimise the effect of South Africa's set-piece supremacy.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
One writer sailing the Persian Gulf in 1939 described how 32 men each dived 100 times beneath the sea, filling seven sacks with oysters, only to find a “teaspoonful” of low-grade pearls in their haul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Shares dived 8% following projections that free cash flow would turn negative in the latter half of this year for the first time since the Instagram-parent went public in 2012.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
A splash of water that meant a fish leaped up and dived down again.
From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce
It dove out of the bottom of the strikezone, and Baldwin swung through it, ending the inning on a strikeout.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
When he was a teenager, Walters remembers, he dove into some catfish holes so vast he couldn’t find the back.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
In the eighth inning, he dove after a ground ball up the middle, as shortstop Mookie Betts hurdled over him, and was slow to get up, holding his right shoulder.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
"Even the most committed dove would struggle to find anything in the August employment report to justify keeping interest rates unchanged," said Stephen Brown, chief North America economist at Capital Economics.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
Too keyed up to sleep, Ellsberg pulled on his bathing suit, ran down the beach, and dove into the surf.
From "Most Dangerous: Daniel Ellsberg and the Secret History of the Vietnam War" by Steve Sheinkin
Today the islands are home to fewer than 50,000 people and are best known for beaches, diving and some World War II battlefields.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2026
Companies are also diving much deeper into supply chains as they wrestle with tariffs and an increase in sanctions around the world, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Betts made a diving stop at short but had no chance at throwing out Dubón.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
"As children, we used to spend all our summers swimming at the beach, having fun by the water, diving, jumping in and sometimes even fishing," the 76-year-old told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
It was like he was wearing a diving mask.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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.
