skate
1 Americannoun
-
the blade of an ice skate.
-
a skid on a lifeboat to facilitate launching from a listing ship.
verb (used without object)
-
skates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
skated,
past participle, past
-
skating
present participle
-
to glide or propel oneself over ice, the ground, etc., on skates.
-
to glide or slide smoothly along.
-
Slang. to shirk one's duty; loaf.
-
(of the tone arm on a record player) to swing toward the spindle while a record is playing.
verb (used with object)
-
skates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
skated,
past participle, past
-
skating
present participle
idioms
-
get / put one's skates on, to make haste.
-
skate on thin ice, to be or place oneself in a risky or delicate situation.
Taking a public stand on the question would be skating on thin ice.
noun
-
skate,
plural
-
skates
plural
noun
-
the steel blade or runner of an ice skate
-
such a blade fitted with straps for fastening to a shoe
-
a current collector on an electric railway train that collects its current from a third rail Compare bow collector
-
to hurry
verb
-
to glide swiftly on skates
-
to slide smoothly over a surface
-
to place oneself in a dangerous or delicate situation
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
skatesimple
-
skatessimple
-
have skatedperfect
-
has skatedperfect
-
am skatingprogressive
-
are skatingprogressive
-
is skatingprogressive
-
have been skatingperfect progressive
-
has been skatingperfect progressive
Past
-
skatedsimple
-
had skatedperfect
-
was skatingprogressive
-
were skatingprogressive
-
had been skatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of skate1
First recorded in 1640–50; originally plural scates, from Dutch schaats (singular) “skate,” Middle Dutch schaetse “stilt” (compare Medieval Latin scatia ), of unknown origin
Origin of skate2
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English scate, from Old Norse skata
Origin of skate3
First recorded in 1890–95; perhaps special use of skate 2
Explanation
Skates are things you wear on your feet so you can roll around a roller rink or glide across an icy pond. Roller skates have wheels on the bottom, and ice skates have metal blades. When you lace up your skates and start moving over the ice, you skate. You also skate when you head down the street to your friend's house on your skates—or on your skateboard. A totally different kind of skate is the sea creature that looks like a sting ray, with a wide, flat body. The sporting equipment kind of skate comes from a Germanic root meaning "thing that shakes or moves fast."
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:
Students ski at the college’s Nordic center, skate at the Sidney J. Watson Arena, and borrow outdoor equipment from an extensive gear library.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The play, which had its premiere off-Broadway at the Vineyard Theatre, is a freewheeling love story, set in a skate park in the middle of an urban wasteland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
What a shame, considering a three-dimensional approach might be all “Obsession” needs to skate past mediocrity.
From Salon ● Jun. 4, 2026
Every student gets a MacBook Air—an upgrade from the midrange laptops given to most Swedish high-schoolers—and lunch is free at a cafeteria perched above a cavernous indoor skate park.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
An armor-plated military vehicle encountering no greater obstacle than a lost roller skate.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Under the California Vehicle Code, it is illegal for anyone on an e-bike, bicycle, motorcycle or roller skates to attach themselves to another vehicle on a road.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Each time, the 30-something Staal could have easily hung up his skates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026
The girls see the appeal in some of the toys on display, with Bella-May particularly taken with a pair of roller skates.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
But where its cinematic peers get snared by trying to elucidate the truth of the pop star, Lowery’s film skates past the conventions and trappings, landing on something high-concept but deceptively straightforward.
From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2026
So when he came flying into the living room on skates, I laughed it up so he’d feel a little better about my slipping him the insects.
From "The Pigman" by Paul Zindel
Pro 7, which ran an advertising campaign in which their mascot held an Olympic flame or curled, skated or bob-sledded down a supermarket aisle, was fined a total of 550,000 euros.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Jonas grew up on 11th Street in Santa Monica near the BroadStage, and always skated close to the theater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
Two days later, she skated a magnificent free programme to the disco sounds of Donna Summer and lit up the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
From Barron's ● Feb. 20, 2026
The 12 Olympic rookies on Team USA skated as if they were stunned by the moment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 19, 2026
I finally dropped his arm and skated away from him, and it wasn’t as hard as I’d thought it would be.
From "The Lions of Little Rock" by Kristin Levine
But it is yet another straw in the wind that the stock market is skating on thin ice.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
While on a trip to Wisconsin, the president met Olympic speed skating champion Jordan Stolz, after which Trump lamented forgetting to touch his leg.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
There was also a knighthood and damehood for Olympic champions Dame Jayne Torvill and Sir Christopher Dean, for services to ice skating and to voluntary service.
From BBC ● Jun. 2, 2026
Hughes is the NHL’s perpetual motion machine, the defenseman who never stops skating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 3, 2026
Caroline grew up picnicking by the Shaker lakes in the summer, skating on city-flooded rinks in the winter, caroling at Christmas.
From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng
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.
