swipe
Americannoun
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swipes
plural
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a swing of the arm, paw, etc., in order to strike someone or something.
He made a swipe at me, but I ducked!
A swipe from the cat could mean an injured eye for your new pup.
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a critical or cutting remark.
Her speech contained a few nasty swipes at the other leading candidate.
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a swift pass of something over a surface or through a slot.
You can debit your checking account with just a swipe of your card.
It’ll take more than a few swipes with a sponge to clean this sink.
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a strong, sweeping blow or stroke.
It only took two swipes with the ax to bring the sapling down.
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a sideswipe.
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a leverlike device for raising or lowering a weight, especially a bucket in a well; sweep.
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Also called rubber. Horse Racing. a person who rubs down horses in a stable; groom.
verb (used with object)
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swipes,
present (3rd person singular)
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swiped,
past participle, past
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swiping
present participle
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Informal. to steal.
He'll swipe anything that isn't nailed down.
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to slide (a magnetic card) quickly through an electronic device that reads data.
Just swipe your credit card if tapping doesn’t work.
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Digital Technology. to move a finger or fingers across an area on (a touchscreen) in order to execute a command.
Swipe the screen upward to unlock your phone.
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to hit, brush, or wipe with a swift, sweeping stroke.
I swiped my face with my sleeve.
verb (used without object)
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swipes,
present (3rd person singular)
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swiped,
past participle, past
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swiping
present participle
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to make a swift, sweeping stroke.
The waiter swiped at our table with a damp cloth.
The giant swiped at the mouse with his boulder-sized fists.
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to slide a magnetic card through an electronic device.
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Digital Technology. to move the fingers across a touchscreen.
Swipe down from the top to find your Favorites.
idioms
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swipe left,
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Digital Technology. to move the fingers to the left on a touchscreen: originally, on some sites, a way to close or dismiss something.
Users of the dating app can swipe left to indicate they are not interested in the photos and move on to the next person.
Tap on the icon and swipe left to begin recording.
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to reject something or someone (often used withon ).
You’ll find nicer apartments than this—swipe left!
Even with a six-figure salary, I think I’d swipe left on that job.
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swipe right,
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Digital Technology. to move the fingers to the right on a touchscreen: originally, on some sites, a way to open, approve, or opt for something.
Swipe right on the profile to send the person a message.
Swipe right to continue.
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to choose in favor of something or someone; approve (often used withon ).
An iced cappuccino on a hot day like today—I’ll swipe right on that!
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verb
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informal to hit hard with a sweeping blow
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slang (tr) to steal
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(tr) to pass a machine-readable card, such as a credit card, debit card, etc, through a machine that electronically interprets the information encoded, usu. in a magnetic strip, on the card
noun
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informal a hard blow
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an unexpected criticism of someone or something while discussing another subject
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Also called: sweep. a type of lever for raising and lowering a weight, such as a bucket in a well
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swipesimple
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swipessimple
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have swipedperfect
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has swipedperfect
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am swipingprogressive
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are swipingprogressive
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is swipingprogressive
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have been swipingperfect progressive
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has been swipingperfect progressive
Past
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swipedsimple
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had swipedperfect
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was swipingprogressive
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were swipingprogressive
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had been swipingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swipe
First recorded in 1730–40; cognate with German schweifen; see also sweep 1 ( def. )
Explanation
When you swipe something, you move it in a sweeping motion, like the way you swipe your credit card through a reader. Swipe can also mean "to steal," like when your little sisters swipe the cookies you baked before they cool. You might swipe at the mosquitos buzzing around your head at a summer picnic, or swipe your finger across a touchscreen to sign for a purchase. When used to mean "steal," swipe is a gentle kind of verb: it's not quite "burglarize," but closer to "sneak off with." This newer meaning comes from American prison slang, first appearing in the 1880s.
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:
Masood was lbw on review, and Rizwan was leg before having a swipe.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
They snatch backpacks, swipe shoes and nibble on trekking poles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Even so, Tesla’s proprietary digital environment works beautifully, looks great and blazes away, faster than you can swipe.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
"Presentations should not turn into self-representations," he wrote, in a thinly veiled swipe at Federov's long, detailed news conference last week.
From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026
Even though their wipers swipe away the icy layer, it returns as fast as it disappears.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
This update incentivized lengthy carousels of multi-image posts, especially with some educational content attached that encourages viewer engagement via swipes or saves.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Los Angeles metropolitan area and other big California population centers are below the national average in office attendance, according to Kastle Systems, which tracks badge swipes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
"You've only got a few seconds before someone swipes past the message you're trying to deliver".
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
Kastle Systems, a security company that tracks access-card swipes, puts average workplace occupancy across 10 major cities just slightly higher than a year ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
She immediately cuts off my ponytails with two swipes of her scissors.
From "Lucky Broken Girl" by Ruth Behar
When Tongue went to a sustained bouncer plan, Shakeel swiped successive sixes, then a pull for four to move to 96.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
At the other end, she swiped the ball from a driving player, drove to the arc and hit a pull-up 3-pointer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Records indicate that the four-bedroom beach house was swiped off the market in June, having undergone a $550,000 price cut the previous month.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Shredded rotisserie chicken, swiped with Boursin and tucked into the puff pastry you “always keep in the freezer” in case someone drops by with Champagne?
From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2026
His jaws clamped down on one, his claws swiped at another, and it looked like a silver tornado whirled in the clearing as the metal monsters disintegrated into broken links and rust.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
"People are realising constant swiping isn't actually leading to real-world dates, which only heightens dating fatigue," said Ryan.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Traditional dating apps generally offer free swiping and then upsell users on premium plans with features such as superlikes and unlimited swiping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Employees are still coffee badging, the practice of swiping into the office and sticking around long enough to have a cup of coffee before heading out to finish the workday at home or elsewhere.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
But after swiping down on my screen a dozen times, I hit the jackpot: 9:25.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
We checked the eye shadows and lipsticks, swiping the back of our hands with samples of apricot ice and pink blush.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
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.
