swish
Americanverb (used without object)
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swishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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swished,
past participle, past
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swishing
present participle
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to move with or make a sibilant sound, as a slender rod cutting sharply through the air or as small waves washing on the shore.
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to rustle, as silk.
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to move or behave in an exaggeratedly effeminate manner.
verb (used with object)
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swishes,
present (3rd person singular)
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swished,
past participle, past
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swishing
present participle
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to flourish, whisk, etc., with a swishing movement or sound.
to swish a cane.
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to bring, take, cut, etc., with such a movement or sound.
to swish off the tops of plants with a cane.
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to flog or whip.
noun
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swishes
plural
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a swishing movement or sound.
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a stock or rod for flogging or a stroke with this.
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to an effeminate gay man.
adjective
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Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. swishy.
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Chiefly British Informal. stylishly elegant; fashionable.
verb
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to move with or make or cause to move with or make a whistling or hissing sound
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(intr) (esp of fabrics) to rustle
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slang (tr) to whip; flog
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to cut with a swishing blow
noun
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a hissing or rustling sound or movement
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a rod for flogging or a blow from such a rod
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slang an effeminate male homosexual
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a W African building material composed of mortar and mud or laterite, or more recently of cement and earth
adjective
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informal fashionable; smart
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slang effeminate and homosexual
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swishsimple
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swishessimple
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have swishedperfect
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has swishedperfect
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am swishingprogressive
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are swishingprogressive
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is swishingprogressive
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have been swishingperfect progressive
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has been swishingperfect progressive
Past
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swishedsimple
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had swishedperfect
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was swishingprogressive
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were swishingprogressive
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had been swishingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swish
First recorded in 1750–60; imitative
Explanation
To swish is to make something rush or hiss as it moves, or to move this way yourself. A bike might swish past you on a wet sidewalk, and you might swish your long dress as you continue walking. A swish is the sound that's made when a person or thing swishes — the swish of a dish brush on a dirty pan in the sink, or the swish of water against a dock. A kite swishes through the air and so does a fencing epee or a fly swatter. In basketball, you swish when you make a clean basket, without the ball hitting the rim or the backboard. Swish is an example of onomatopoeia — when a word that sounds like its meaning.
Vocabulary lists containing swish
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:
This would help swish money into public coffers through tax revenues, he said, "allowing us to provide tax relief on the one hand while finally making sensible investments on the other".
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The swish of polyester skirts in spring pastels — lavender, mint, butter-yellow — as the women of the church organized the spread.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2026
As California’s water crisis worsened, recalling the constant swish of sprinklers throughout her childhood piqued her interest in native plants.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 9, 2026
Wembanyama, just 21 years old, can already do anything he likes on the basketball court: block shots, slam home dunks, swish jumpers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 16, 2025
“See you at the gate,” Serina said as she and Sam dashed out the door in a swish of bloodred skirts.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
He generates his power as the bat swishes back through the line to make contact.
From BBC ● May 7, 2026
To some people, the swishes also looked like loons, the official state bird.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 15, 2023
Daunno does an expert disaffected indie head nod and foot bounce while he plays, and Shen is thoroughly convincing on the keys with her hair swishes and tentative backing vocals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2023
The nets singed with swishes, same as they ever had.
From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2022
She gives him a look that one trapped person gives another; then Fredericks mother swishes out of a side room wearing tennis clothes.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Wembanyama swished jump shots and soared for alley-oop dunks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
The shot swished in, and it was No. 9 seed Iowa—not heavily favored No. 1 Florida—heading into the Sweet 16.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
Javon Carter had tied it for the Magic with 1.1 seconds left in the second extra period before Green swished the game-winner.
From Barron's ● Feb. 22, 2026
Trump, for her part, swished a basket from beyond the free-throw line of an outdoor court near the first tee while waiting to begin the pro-am.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 13, 2025
I gnawed on the meat around the pig’s feet and sucked the bones until the salty, slippery membrane slid out and swished around my tongue.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
In the coming days, the drizzly gray weather along the coast is not expected to change much, said Mehle, who drove to work in Monterey on Saturday with his windshield wipers swishing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2025
Between the pomp surrounding donning one’s holy livery, pointed glares and swishing red silks and velvets, these cassocked clergymen make bored teenagers seem kind.
From Salon ● Nov. 22, 2024
The TGV trains swishing through the French countryside at 230 mph were in stark contrast to the UK’s creaking rolling stock.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2024
Cats display a wide range of visual signals: tails swishing side to side, or raised high in the air; rubbing and curling around our legs; crouching; flattening ears or widening eyes.
From New York Times ● Feb. 29, 2024
He shot his two-hand set in a soft, spinning arc that, when true, snapped through the net in a swishing voice that is the purest music of the game.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
