roller skate
noun
a form of skate with four wheels or rollers instead of a runner, for use on a sidewalk or other surface offering traction.
Jump To:
roller skate
1 Americannoun
-
roller skates
plural
roller-skate
2
American
[roh-ler-skeyt]
/ ˈroʊ lərˌskeɪt /
Or
rollerskate
verb (used without object)
-
roller-skates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
roller-skated,
past participle, past
-
roller-skating
present participle
roller skate
British
noun
-
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
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
roller-skatesimple
-
roller-skatessimple
-
have roller-skatedperfect
-
has roller-skatedperfect
-
am roller-skatingprogressive
-
are roller-skatingprogressive
-
is roller-skatingprogressive
-
have been roller-skatingperfect progressive
-
has been roller-skatingperfect progressive
Past
-
roller-skatedsimple
-
had roller-skatedperfect
-
was roller-skatingprogressive
-
were roller-skatingprogressive
-
had been roller-skatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of roller skate1
An Americanism dating back to 1860–65
Origin of roller-skate2
First recorded in 1870–75; v. use of roller 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:
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
But there’s something about going around in a rink, or if I’m at a great beach where I can roller skate, with the air hitting my face.
From New York Times ● Apr. 10, 2023
In the 1990s, inline skates, a kind of roller skate, were all the rage, but their buzz had gotten quieter.
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
The movie, of course, was a mess — but the kind of wildly colorful, overstuffed, yes-to-everything mess that could have roller-skated right into his own work.
From New York Times ● Dec. 28, 2022
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
Dreibelbis told ProPublica he roller-skated into the protest, expecting to attend only briefly.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2020
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
Before that morning, marriage had sounded nice, but sort of “like saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to go roller-skating on the moon?’” said Martin, now 65.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2024
The Corn Exchange began hosting entertainment from 1858 and played host to Shakespeare recitations, dancing, roller-skating, wrestling and bingo.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2023
What organizers have dubbed the recess district will occupy the Artists at Play area near MoPOP, with performances from those theatrical wrestling pros and the Roll Around Seatown roller-skating brigade.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 21, 2023
Tanisha and I used to spend lots of Saturdays at the roller-skating rink in downtown Newark.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
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.
