a boot or shoe with four small wheels attached that enable the wearer to glide swiftly over a floor or other surface
a device having clamps or straps for attaching such wheels to a boot or shoe
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65
First recorded in 1870–75; v. use of roller skate
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
John Okevu Ojo II, 34, skater and fashion designer: I feel like if you’re Black and from L.A., you should know how to roller skate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2025
Ms. Anderson, who loved to roller skate and attend Michigan State basketball games, was studying to become a doctor because she wanted to help others, her grandfather, Dwayne Thomas, said in a telephone interview.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2023
Thirty-one-year-old Ana Coto lives in Los Angeles and goes by the social media handle @anaocto, an homage to the eight wheels on a roller skate.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 18, 2022
But "Running Up That Hill" isn't employed merely to set a tone or place us in an era, like neon roller skate wheels or Scrunchies.
From Salon ● May 30, 2022
An armor-plated military vehicle encountering no greater obstacle than a lost roller skate.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
R&B singer Usher has promised to roller-skate during his Super Bowl half-time show, in Las Vegas, on Sunday.
From BBC ● Feb. 8, 2024
So she began to do so in earnest: crocheting, writing in a journal and learning to roller-skate.
From New York Times ● Oct. 29, 2022
I mean, we couldn’t roller-skate because she thought we’d get hurt.
From Slate ● Oct. 25, 2018
When Gus and I were kids, she taught us to roller-skate and read us everything from Beatrix Potter to Newsweek.
From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2014
He didn’t seem like the type of guy who would roller-skate.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
Sara said she had fallen over on some roller-skates, but her account seemed inconsistent.
From BBC ● Dec. 11, 2024
The highly anticipated film roller-skates into theaters July 21.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2023
Mr. Rockman travels on roller-skates — an exhilarating if terrifying experience when plunging down the mountains outside Jerusalem toward the coastal plain outside Tel Aviv.
From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2022
Todd Phillips trains the camera on the movie screen as the Little Tramp roller-skates closer and closer to a steep drop.
From Slate ● Jan. 13, 2020
He was a very good skater and all, but I couldn't enjoy it much because I kept picturing him practicing to be a guy that roller-skates on the stage.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
The actress roller-skated throughout her Broadway debut in “Starlight Express,” sung while suspended upside down in her Tony-winning performance of “Nine” and learned Bob Fosse’s famously particular style of dance for “Damn Yankees.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 17, 2025
Ronnie and I went to movies, we roller-skated, went out dancing and went to concerts and parties together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2022
As a kid in the early 1980s, I roller-skated on the bike path.
From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021
The Mariner moose roller-skated onto the scene in 1990, and Harry the Husky joined the fray in 1995.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 1, 2021
Carefully she sidestepped the boys who played basketball, the girls who roller-skated, the groups who seemed to laugh or whisper whenever she passed.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
Coco Franklin, a yoga and roller-skating instructor in Long Beach, Calif., bought a 2003 Jeep Wrangler a few years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026
Officials in Penza claimed that a rally couldn't go ahead due to a roller-skating masterclass at the requested location.
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2026
Daniels recommended visitors check out the Downtown Seattle Association’s free pop-up roller-skating rink in Occidental Square, just blocks away from Lumen Field.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023
A glance at his website, julianwasser.com, reveals seemingly informal shots of young Paul McCartney and Elton John, Hugh Hefner roller-skating with playmates and Joan Didion posing in front of her Corvette Stingray.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2023
As the roller-skating grandparent cruised by, I handed her my bouquet of flowers.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
