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Synonyms

in the swim

Idioms  

  1. Actively participating, in the thick of things, as in He was new in town, but he soon got in the swim at school. This expression alludes to the fishing term for a large number of fish in one area, a so-called swim. [Mid-1800s]

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.

Ashley Stoneman and Kelsey Jessup both took part in the swim at Budleigh Salterton.

From BBC • Dec. 26, 2025

In the next step, they then looked for instances of order in the swim trajectories.

From Science Daily • Mar. 25, 2024

Loyola senior Rex Maurer broke the national record in the 500-meter freestyle Friday, dominating the field at the Southern Section in the swim finals.

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2023

Early the following afternoon, Bailar sat in the back of a cafe in the swim arena, trying to respond to what he called “propaganda” about Thomas.

From Washington Post • Mar. 20, 2022

He knew that I was in the swim down here, and he asked me to pick up a good man cheap—a young, pushing man with plenty of snap about him.

From The Strand Magazine, Volume V, Issue 27, March 1893 An Illustrated Monthly by Various

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.