ice skate
noun
ice skate
1 American
ice-skate
2
American
[ahys-skeyt]
/ ˈaɪsˌskeɪt /
verb (used without object)
-
ice-skates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
ice-skated,
past participle, past
-
ice-skating
present participle
ice skate
British
noun
-
a boot having a steel blade fitted to the sole to enable the wearer to glide swiftly over ice
-
the steel blade on such a boot or shoe
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
ice-skatesimple
-
ice-skatessimple
-
have ice-skatedperfect
-
has ice-skatedperfect
-
am ice-skatingprogressive
-
are ice-skatingprogressive
-
is ice-skatingprogressive
-
have been ice-skatingperfect progressive
-
has been ice-skatingperfect progressive
Past
-
ice-skatedsimple
-
had ice-skatedperfect
-
was ice-skatingprogressive
-
were ice-skatingprogressive
-
had been ice-skatingperfect progressive
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:
“I love physical challenges. I’ve had to learn how to sword fight, ice skate, shoot a pistol, taekwondo, horseback riding. It’s like practicing to be this other person, and it kind of rubs off.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
The youngest fell through first after trying to "ice skate" on the layer of ice on the water, Hangaman said, adding that the two older boys then jumped in after him.
From BBC ● Jan. 28, 2026
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
Among their inventions over the years were: a rubber shoe insert, a paper-making machine, an innovative ice skate.
From Scientific American ● Nov. 9, 2023
“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
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
Her bedroom looks out on a pond where the kids ice-skate in winter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2012
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
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
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
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
In the movie, Panettiere plays Gen Harwood, an archetypal most-popular-girl-in-school and less-than-standard teenage ice-skating prodigy.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 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
Anyway, Ellie watched me do that for a little while, and then she started ice-skating with her fingers, too.
From "Auggie & Me" by R. J. Palacio
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.
