surf
Americannoun
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the swell of the sea that breaks upon a shore or upon shoals.
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the mass or line of foamy water caused by the breaking of the sea upon a shore, especially a shallow or sloping shore.
verb (used without object)
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to ride a surfboard.
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to float on the crest of a wave toward shore.
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to swim, play, or bathe in the surf.
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to search haphazardly, as for information on a computer network or an interesting program on television.
verb (used with object)
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to ride a surfboard on.
We surfed every big wave in sight.
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to search through (a computer network or TV channels) for information or entertainment.
noun
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waves breaking on the shore or on a reef
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foam caused by the breaking of waves
verb
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(intr) to take part in surfing
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computing (on the internet) to move freely from website to website (esp in the phrase surf the net )
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to move freely between (TV channels or radio stations)
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informal to be carried on top of something
that guy's surfing the audience
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( in combination )
trainsurfing
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Synonym Usage
See wave.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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surfsimple
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surfssimple
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have surfedperfect
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has surfedperfect
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am surfingprogressive
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are surfingprogressive
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is surfingprogressive
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have been surfingperfect progressive
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has been surfingperfect progressive
Past
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surfedsimple
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had surfedperfect
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was surfingprogressive
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were surfingprogressive
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had been surfingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of surf
First recorded in 1600–10; earlier suff; of uncertain origin
Explanation
The surf is what you see when you stand on the beach and look at the ocean — waves rising and breaking on the shore. It’s also what you do when you ride those waves. Surf’s up, dude! Surf means "crashing waves," but it's also a verb meaning to ride those waves with a surf board. When you surf, you stand upright on a board and ride over breaking waves into the shore. A more figurative meaning of surf is "search casually," as in "channel surf," or click idly between TV stations. The origin of the word is a mystery, though it's thought to have first been used in reference to the Indian coast.
Vocabulary lists containing surf
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:
For decades, her insatiable musical curiosity allowed her to surf the zeitgeist, often introducing new sounds to pop before they'd gone mainstream.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
"This sport is indescribable. When you catch a wave, ride it, glide along it, that feeling can't be put into words," said 23-year-old Tahseen Abu Assi, who learned how to surf from his father.
From Barron's ● Jun. 22, 2026
New Smyrna Beach is a surf break near a fish-rich inlet that attracts sharks, leading to bites, said Naylor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
Last week’s ocean swell brought historic 20-foot waves to the Wedge, the Newport surf break at the tip of the Balboa Peninsula.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2026
Below, the Caird was dragged down to the surf and loaded with the bags of ballast, boxes of stores, a hand pump, a cook pot, six reindeer-skin sleeping bags, and the rest of the provisions.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Our critic said “the play surfs along on waves of lively, crisp dialogue.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Efrus, a 4-year-old Jack Russell terrier, surfs the waves in the Pacific waters off Peru.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 25, 2024
He appears to be in great physical shape, and he surfs regularly and travels the world for weeks at a time.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
He grew up surfing at Makaha and now surfs all over the world, and has trained at the Slater wave pool and a Texas one.
From Washington Times ● May 29, 2023
She surfs waves as big as houses and jumps off anything.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
After graduating in 2021, she moved to London and couch surfed for six months, before she got a job as an admin assistant at the Royal Court Theatre on its education team.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026
Koh said he surfed the web when the others slept.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
The goal survived a VAR check for a potential foul on Martinez and Arsenal surfed the wave of momentum to double their lead four minutes later.
From Barron's ● Dec. 30, 2025
They surfed together, let each other’s cats in and celebrated holidays on the small community lawn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2025
The noise virtually disappeared, the slamming stopped, and the Frog surfed down the long swells and waves so fast she sometimes showed close to ten knots on the speed indicator.
From "The Voyage Of The Frog" by Gary Paulsen
“We usually say, if it’s a beach where there’s surfing, they like the same surfing waves that people like,” said Karen Martin, a professor of biology at Pepperdine University and leading grunion expert.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
“I don’t want my kids to get the idea that they should be afraid of summer, but I also don’t want to have, like, cheesy surfing werewolves be a thing.”
From Salon ● Jun. 30, 2026
The family were keen hikers, climbing mountains like Sugarloaf and the Skirrid, trips to the beach led to bodyboarding and later surfing while closer to home they kayaked down the River Wye.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
McPhee added that spearfishing represents "a different risk profile than other activities and requires different approaches for mitigation compared to surfing".
From Barron's ● May 24, 2026
The wall behind the counter is half sunset orange, half midnight blue, and there are framed photos of people doing different activities, like rock climbing and surfing.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
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.
