swimming
Americannoun
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the act of a person or thing that swims.
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the skill or technique of a person who swims.
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the sport of swimming.
adjective
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pertaining to, characterized by, or capable of swimming.
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used in or for swimming.
swimming trunks.
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immersed in or overflowing with water or some other liquid.
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dizzy or giddy.
a swimming head.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of swimming
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English swimmende (adjective). See swim, -ing 2, -ing 1
Explanation
Swimming is an activity that involves moving through the water using your arms and legs. One of the best ways to cool off on a hot summer day is swimming in a cold lake or pool. Swimming is both a casual activity and a serious sport. To you, swimming may involve splashing through the waves or dog-paddling across a public pool. Olympic athletes, on the other hand, swim distances as far as 1500 meters at unbelievable speeds. As an adjective, swimming describes anything that swims or that's used for swimming, like a swimming hole. You can also poetically describe a crying person's eyes as "swimming with tears."
Vocabulary lists containing swimming
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.
Things that once came so easily – namely, speed and winning over one or two lengths of a swimming pool – now look out of reach.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
This past spring, swimming was banned three times at Huntington Beach due to sharks deemed to be aggressive.
From Barron's ● Jul. 27, 2026
Millions of years later, the animal's descendants began swimming actively again.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026
A spokesperson for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council said watersports activities and open-water swimming at Craigavon Lakes were suspended on 21 July due to the presence of blue-green algae.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
She was swimming hard, but Chase’s light was not getting closer.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
