scuba
Americannoun
-
a portable breathing device for free-swimming divers, consisting of a mouthpiece joined by hoses to one or two tanks of compressed air that are strapped on the back.
verb (used without object)
noun
Etymology
Origin of scuba
1950–55; s(elf )- c(ontained) u(nderwater) b(reathing) a(pparatus)
Explanation
A scuba is a portable breathing device for deep sea divers. With the help of a scuba tank, divers can explore very deep parts of the ocean. You can use scuba for the compressed air tank itself, or to describe the divers who use it — scuba divers. Most of these scuba divers use masks and wear rubber fins on their feet to propel themselves through the water. Scuba devices are useful for recreation and tasks like coast guard search and rescue operations or marine biology observations. Scuba is an acronym, standing for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus."
Vocabulary lists containing scuba
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.
Lying on a sunbed, it can be easy to fantasise about quitting everything and retraining as a scuba diver instructor or yoga teacher, but Carr warns against a "knee-jerk reaction".
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
The Philippine government has designated the roughly 260-square-mile area an economic development zone, pitching the bay’s tropical beaches and scuba diving on World War II shipwrecks to tourists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
When scuba diver and underwater photographer Ross McLaren encountered a jellyfish for the first time, he said all he felt was "sheer terror".
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
Five Italians have died in a scuba diving accident in the Maldives, the foreign ministry in Rome has said.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
“We’ll get someone with scuba gear to go down there on a treasure dive,” quipped Goddard.
From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman
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.
