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Synonyms

swim with the tide

Idioms  

  1. Go along with prevailing opinion or thought, as in Irene doesn't have a mind of her own; she just swims with the tide. In the late 1600s this idiom was also put as swim down the stream, a usage not much heard today. The present form was first recorded in 1712. For the antonym, see swim against the current.

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.

He tries to swim with the tide, but he said wind and choppy water make progress harder.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 12, 2023

But throughout his career, Michaels has learned to swim with the tide.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2022

Other grocers, after a second look, decided to swim with the tide rather than fight it.

From Time Magazine Archive

You want to begin right now and swim with the tide.

From Ancestors A Novel by Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn

The desert beasts moved delicately, on legs longer and more slender than those of pack-camels, their necks swaying like the necks of swans who swim with the tide.

From The Golden Silence by Williamson, A. M. (Alice Muriel)

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.