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🏊 To move in water 🏊 A time in water 💫 To feel dizzy 🛟 To stay up 🥞 To be covered
to swim

to swim

835 1.0
To move through water using your arms and legs
  • verb
  • /swɪm/
: nadar
  • Once free of its mother, the newborn swims unaided to the surface for its first breath.
  • go swimming
  • swim in the pool
  • swim in the lake

It's bracing and you want to swim fast out of it.

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Examples

  • She was pushed in the deep end and told to swim.

    Diana: Life in Fashion (2022)

  • Once you dive in, be prepared to swim around for a long time.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Do you think that you could swim faster than me?

  • Do you know that some dogs swim for fun?

  • So this is the space where I swim every morning.

  • One of us is gonna have to swim over to the boat.

    Shark Bait (2022)

  • Most animals can swim as babies, you know.

    Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)

  • I can get a job as a trainer, find a place by the beach, swim in the ocean.

    Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

  • My daughter Olive taught Percy to swim this weekend.

  • She loves to swim in the local pool during the summer.

Synonyms

to bathe
vsto swim
37 1.4

To swim for pleasure in the sea or pool

is movement focused on propulsion rather than leisure or immersion
to snorkel
vsto swim
6 3.7

To swim just below the surface while breathing through a tube

is regular movement not using surface breathing gear
to breaststroke
vsto swim
1 3.1

To swim on your front by moving your arms in half circles and kicking like a frog

is the general action not limited to that specific body position
to fin
vsto swim
1 6.5

To move through water by kicking with flat shoes on your feet

is movement powered by body limbs rather than by attached devices
to crawl
vsto swim
  • Specialized
1 3.9

To swim using the stroke where you move one arm at a time and kick

is the general action not tied to one specific technique

Antonyms

to sink
104 1.0

To go down below the surface of water and become underwater

Idioms

in the swim
1 8.6

Someone who takes part in and knows what is happening in a group

can a duck swim
  • Informal
1 9.5

A question people ask to show the answer is clearly yes

to get in the swim
  • Informal
1 8.4

To start taking part in an activity or group

Phrasal Verbs

to swim upstream
  • Informal
7 5.3

To move against a river current or to keep trying when many people are against you

Compounds

swim meet
  • US
8 2.4

An event where swimmers from different teams race each other

swim bladder
  • Specialized
1 5.0

An air sac in many fish that helps them stay at a certain depth in water

How Deep

to dive
206 1.0
to swim
835 1.0
to wade
65 2.2
dip
59 1.0

Surface Forms

swim infinitive
swimming present participle
swims third person singular
swam past
swum past participle

Etymology

Swim comes from the old English verb swimman, which meant 'to move in water', so to swim today is to move through water using your arms and legs.