to feel like a swan

8.8

Move or stand in a graceful, beautiful way

idiom

Informal

: sentirse como un cisne

When she performed the ballet, she said she felt like a swan gliding across the stage.

Examples

In her wedding gown, Maya felt like a swan and walked with confidence.
When I wear that dress, I feel like a swan.
After her makeover, Anna felt like a swan for the first time in her life.
After her makeover, she felt like a swan!
After her makeover, Anna felt like a swan for the first time in her life.
In her wedding gown, Maya felt like a swan and walked with confidence.
When she performed the ballet, she said she felt like a swan gliding across the stage.

Synonyms

to float like a butterfly

vsto feel like a swan

Informal

1 6.8

To move with light, graceful steps like a butterfly

is about feeling graceful and beautiful because of appearance and poise

Antonyms

unattractive

37 1.8

Not pleasant to look at or to the senses

clumsy

21 3.2

Saying or writing things in an awkward, not skillful way that causes embarrassment

How Graceful

to feel like a swan

Informal

8.8

to feel awkward

21 2.8

Surface Forms

feel like a swan infinitive

felt like a swan past

felt like a swan past participle

feeling like a swan present participle

feels like a swan third person singular

Morphology

feel + like + a + swan

This is a straightforward simile: the structure 'feel + like + [noun]' indicates feeling similar to the referenced animal, and because swans are widely associated with grace and beauty the overall meaning is directly inferable from the parts. Cross-linguistically animal-based similes are common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily understand this usage.

Etymology

Feel like a swan may come from the clear picture of a swan gliding on water with a long neck and smooth, calm movement. That image helps explain why the phrase means 'to feel graceful and beautiful'.