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Synonyms

ice skate

1 American  

noun

  • ice skates
    plural
  1. a shoe fitted with a metal blade for skating skate on ice.

  2. skate.


ice-skate 2 American  
[ahys-skayt] / ˈaɪsˌskeɪt /

verb (used without object)

  • ice-skates,
    present (3rd person singular)
  • ice-skated,
    past participle,  past
  • ice-skating
    present participle
  1. to skate on ice.


ice skate British  

noun

  1. a boot having a steel blade fitted to the sole to enable the wearer to glide swiftly over ice

  2. the steel blade on such a boot or shoe

"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

verb

  1. (intr) to glide swiftly over ice on ice skates

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

Inflected Forms

Nouns

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future


Etymology

Origin of ice skate1

First recorded in 1895–1900

Origin of ice-skate2

First recorded in 1945–50; v. use of ice skate


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:

We have watched Joe learn to ice skate in Dancing on Ice and Stacey declutter homes in Sort Your Life Out.

From BBC ● Mar. 25, 2025

April was an energetic young mother who loved to move, and she and Hunter would bike near the river, rollerblade, and ice skate together.

From Slate ● Oct. 15, 2024

“I used to ice skate here,” Bridget said as we came to the mall’s central court.

From Washington Post ● Feb. 6, 2023

I learned that Jackie learned to ice skate by racing, and that Gil Hodges belonged in the HOF, and also that there is a right way and a wrong way to live.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2022

“Squirrels are fast. I’ll take the cookies instead, and I’ll ice skate the whole way.”

From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden

She adored teaching their daughter to ice-skate and would walk alongside her as she Rollerbladed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026

Before you can play hockey, you need to be able to ice-skate comfortably.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 25, 2022

I’ve given birth twice; as a kid I snapped my ankle in half and had an ice-skate blade slice my chin open—things that hurt a lot.

From Slate ● Sep. 16, 2014

How does a Dalek put on an ice-skate?

From The Guardian ● Sep. 17, 2010

I didn’t think that I would want to at first, but I really did ice-skate a lot.

From "The Stars Beneath Our Feet" by David Barclay Moore

As well as the perfume atomiser, Florjancic's inventions include plastic ice-skates and the plastic photographic slide frame.

From BBC ● Nov. 20, 2020

From Monte Carlo he moved to Villach, Austria, in 1963, where he would invent plastic ice-skates and the plastic photographic slide frame.

From BBC ● Apr. 12, 2011

L. C. Hamlin, Grand Junction, Mich., a U.S. flag 5 feet by 3 feet and a pair of extension, nickel-plated ice-skates for a watch.

From Golden Days for Boys and Girls Volume XIII, No. 51: November 12, 1892 by James Elverson

The two presents that Sunny Boy liked most were a little pocket searchlight and his ice-skates.

From Sunny Boy and His Playmates by Howard L. (Howard Livingston) Hastings

The youth carried two pairs of ice-skates slung over his shoulder; as he entered the room he flung them clattering to the floor.

From The Girl in the Golden Atom by Ray Cummings

In the Pacific Northwest, some residents ice-skated on frozen streets in Seattle and Portland.

From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2022

“We have never ice-skated before so for us, this is better,” said Bibi Haniff, who is from Guyana and was visiting New York and the William Vale rink with her young daughter and son.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2020

I have swum in the Potomac, ice-skated on the Potomac, kayaked in the Potomac, rock-climbed along the Potomac, run along the Potomac, paddleboarded the Potomac, and just sat and listened along the Potomac.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2016

But it also helped that Mr. Breyer’s and Mr. Thurmond’s daughters were best friends and ice-skated together.

From New York Times ● Nov. 29, 2015

I ice-skated in my socks down the dustless linoleum hallway.

From "Winger" by Andrew Smith

There is also a playground and custom trampoline, while the upper lawn has previously been transformed into a temporary ice-skating rink.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026

It’s a lifestyle not entirely dissimilar to the rigorous training of an ice-skating prodigy, putting in the work at all hours to hone their skill.

From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2026

By 1953 one theater that was showing “Mr. Scoutmaster,” starring Clifton Webb, even featured an ice-skating show on its custom-built rink.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 2, 2026

She had stayed in touch with school friends from Sweden where she had flourished, winning prizes for ice-skating.

From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2025

He glides through his turns as if he were ice-skating.

From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García

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