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:
While AI matchmakers often charge per date, legacy dating apps generally allow users to swipe for free and charge for premium subscriptions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 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
Unlike other dating apps, Grindr users don’t swipe through profiles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
Because the generative-AI smarts will just be there, through a “Hey Siri” or a swipe down from the top, Siri AI will open the door for anyone who hasn’t bothered to download ChatGPT or Claude.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
I have a message on Instagram, and I swipe to see that it’s a reply from Michael that I got while I was sleeping.
From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott
The wild swipes of previous innings, particularly during England's Ashes defeat last winter, were gone.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
In that ad campaign, Kalshi took swipes at its competitor Polymarket, pointing out that Kalshi is a U.S.-regulated exchange, while most of Polymarket’s trading happens offshore.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
Spread across the sculpted dash contours is an extra widescreen display, combining the driver information center and center touch-screen functions, its field of crisply animated icons and graphics navigated with the usual swipes and taps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 16, 2026
Reed was nothing if not consistent in his swipes at acclaimed actors and directors alike — the newer the acclaim, the more likely the criticism.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
In one swift motion, she pulls Eric's ID out of her back pocket and swipes it against the security panel on the wall.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
Bids rose fast, so rather than type a custom bid, many buyers swiped the yellow bar at the bottom of the screen, which automatically submits an offer a few dollars over the current top bid.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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
Just one month later, the property was once again swiped from the rental block, until June 16, 2026, when the home was listed for sale for just under $3.7 million, Realtor.com can exclusively reveal.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
Plagued by insomnia, the 11-year-old British boy pulled a slender book off his mother’s shelf, one she had swiped from school where she taught.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead and resituated his hat.
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
A deepening exhaustion with dating apps has pushed many to look beyond swiping.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
"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
You’d assume that the interface—which some people describe as what you’d get if eBay and TikTok had a child—would attract younger users, who grew up in this parasocial, digital petri dish of swiping and typing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 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
They watched Siobhan's pixies swiping self-twisting hair ribbons, charm-yarn, and emo-gems while Siobhan admired the starscopes and astrolabes.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
