swim with the tide

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

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

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

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But while some firms are sinking and may not reopen again, others have so far been able to swim with the tide.

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“It’s easy to swim with the tide,” Sanders said to a crowd of 900 as he ticked off a laundry list of issues on which he’s held liberal stances over the years. “But when the going gets rough, some of us were there, and some of us were not there.”

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Gay rights weren’t a majority issue in ’96 and he was due to face the voters that fall, so he opted to swim with the tide – while Sanders instead opted to make a lonely and principled stand.

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Related Words

• accommodate 
• accustom 
• adapt 
• alter 
• conform 
• fine-tune 
• fix 
• modify 
• regulate 
• tailor