lifeguard
Americannoun
verb (used without object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of lifeguard
Explanation
A lifeguard is a person whose job involves watching over swimmers and rescuing them if they're in trouble. You have to do more than just twirl your whistle to be a lifeguard; you'd better be a very good swimmer as well. At the beach and the pool, lifeguards wear swimsuits and carry whistles for catching the attention of rule-breakers, like kids who are dunking each other or jumping into the shallow end. Lifeguards sit perched on high chairs, ready to swim to the aid of someone who's drowning or injured. In the seventeenth century, a lifeguard was a "solider's bodyguard," and by the late 1800s the meaning changed to "watcher of bathers."
Vocabulary lists containing lifeguard
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:
Video captured by a bystander shows the moment 16-year-old rookie lifeguard Ryder Williams rescued a 10-year-old boy from the ocean at Seabright State Beach in Santa Cruz, California.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
The death of two men who went into the sea to help two children has prompted calls for more lifeguard provision.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
A lifeguard jumps in, sunbathers barely notice the commotion and the man is swiftly brought back to shore.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
As a lifeguard lieutenant and later a chief, Ms. Fash was hard on her crew, drilling them constantly and patrolling her section of the beach to ensure that their eyes remained squarely on the water.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
“You know, I lifeguard at the Y in summer, and swimming is a necessary life skill. I can teach you. I want to.”
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
On one recent day alone, Newport Beach lifeguards made more than 100 rescues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The beach is only covered by lifeguards during the summer school holidays, which have yet to start.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
"There hasn't been any lifeguards all year," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
Outreach workers with ID lanyards strode through the trash-strewn landscape like lifeguards working against endless tides of fresh emergencies.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
The Scanlan lifeguards doused themselves in pure vanilla to keep the gnats at bay.
From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth
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.
