↔️ To move back and forth ↔️ A back-and-forth movement ⚾ To hit with force ⚾ A strong hit 🏃 Active period 🪁 A seat for swinging 🎷 Lively jazz style 🎷 To play with rhythm 🗳️ To influence result 🔄 To change quickly 🎉 To party 🔄 To swap partners 💃 A dance move

to swing

37 2.8

Change quickly and suddenly from one state to another

verb
/swɪŋ/

: oscilar

After the meeting, public opinion on the new policy swing dramatically towards approval.
swing back
swing the other way
swing too far

So you've seen it all swing over to the right.

Autoplay Next

Examples

The political pendulum has swung toward decentralization; bringing it back to center in welfare reform will be difficult.

Academic text (1996)
The contributors are concerned that the democratic-authoritarian pendulum is threatening to swing back in the authoritarian direction again.

Academic text (1997)
So now these can swing freely from one another.
The department swung into action very, very quickly.
And public opinion began swinging toward more relaxed laws in the mid-1960s.

Academic text (1996)
Their attitude toward me swung between cool contempt and active hostility.

Fiction book (1993)
His emotions would swing wildly, going from happiness to sadness in the blink of an eye.
She felt her mood swing between excitement and anxiety as the deadline approached.

Antonyms

to stabilize

75 4.3

To become steady and stop changing

Idioms

in full swing

23 3.5

At the peak of activity when many people are active and working

to swing for the fences

Informal

5 7.3

Try something risky to get a big reward

back into the swing of things

Informal

5 5.3

To start doing your normal work and activities after a break

swing and a miss

Informal

3 7.0

An attempt that fails to get the result you wanted

in the swing of things

3 6.8

Being comfortable and taking part easily in an activity

to swing both ways

NSFW

1 8.3

To be attracted to both men and women or to like different things

Phrasal Verbs

to swing by

72 3.7

Visit a place for a short time while on the way somewhere

to swing around

10 3.2

Turn quickly to face the opposite direction

to swing out

6 3.9

To move outward in a wide, sweeping motion

to swing wide

1 3.9

Open a door or gate fully by moving it on its hinges

to swing through

1 3.9

Stop at a place for a short time while going somewhere else

to swing about

1 4.8

To turn quickly to face another direction or change your opinion suddenly

to swing from branch to branch

1 3.8

Move quickly through trees like monkeys by holding and letting go of branches

to swing over

5.8

Make someone change their opinion or decision

to swing round the circle

9.9

To go around the group to hear each person's opinion

Compounds

mood swing

40 3.9

A sudden change from one emotion to another without warning

swing voter

20 4.2

A person who sometimes votes for different political parties and can decide the result of an election

swing set

11 1.0

A frame with seats hanging by chains or ropes for children to swing back and forth

swing door

3 3.1

A door on hinges that opens in both directions

swing shift

3 4.3

An evening work shift from late afternoon until around midnight

swing music

1 3.9

A lively style of jazz with a strong beat that big bands play

baseball swing

1 2.9

The movement a player makes with a bat to hit a thrown ball

swing set

3.7

A group of swing jazz songs played together to make people dance

How Sudden

to flip

Informal

143 7.5

to swing

37 2.8

to shift

683 2.0

to change

∞ 1.0

to drift

30 3.8

Surface Forms

swing infinitive

swinging present participle

swings third person singular

swung past

swung past participle

Etymology

Swing meaning 'to change quickly between two states' comes from the idea of moving from one side to another. So when feelings or prices 'swing', they move suddenly from one extreme to the other.