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🦅 To dive quickly 🦅 A fast descent 💨 To move smoothly 🚓 A sudden raid 🎶 A sliding note
to swoop

to swoop

66 3.1
To move down quickly through the air to grab or catch something
  • verb
  • /swup/
translation icon : abalanzarse sobre
  • The hawk will swoop down from the sky to catch its prey.

This very elaborate shot of the character swooping down toward camera leaves frame.

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Examples

  • Soon the bats would be swooping through the sky just before the moon rose.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Lyla will then swoop in with her team and arrest him.

    The Rainbow Tribe (2008)

  • So you think even American intelligence agencies would be willing to swoop in and take advantage of a situation like that?

  • Before Carl can cry out, the dark figures swoop down and envelope him.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Then late in the day, the Egyptian fleet swooped into the harbor and began landing soldiers behind the Roman position.

  • Outside the window, small birds swooped to alight on the bird feeder.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • Chuckling loudly, he swoops Robin up in his arms and carries him to the bank.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Perhaps that's why Amazon swooped in and bought up every last one of Toys-R-Us's Pikachus.

  • As the crowd cheered, the helicopter swooped in to rescue the hikers stranded on the mountain.

  • The detective decided to swoop in and capture the suspect before he could escape.

Synonyms

to plunge
vsto swoop
83 3.8

To fall or drop suddenly from a higher to a lower place

moves rapidly downward through the air often to seize or catch things
to snap
vsto swoop
65 1.6

Grab something quickly with a sudden motion

involves rapid downward aerial motion often to seize rather than only a quick grab
to pounce
vsto swoop
54 4.1

To jump suddenly onto something to grab or attack it

moves rapidly downward through the air rather than only sudden attack
to stoop
vsto swoop
1 8.9

To dive down quickly from the sky to catch prey

is the general term for rapid downward aerial movement to catch things
to swoop up
vsto swoop
1 4.2

Pick something up quickly by moving down fast

moves rapidly downward through the air rather than mainly collecting things

Antonyms

to ascend
54 4.0

To move upward to a higher place, for example up a hill or into the sky

Idioms

one fell swoop
14 7.6

A single sudden action that happens all at once

Phrasal Verbs

to swoop up
1 4.2

Pick something up quickly by moving down fast

How Fast

to plunge
83 3.8
to swoop
66 3.1
to dip
41 2.7
to glide
89 2.9
to drift
331 2.9

Surface Forms

swoop infinitive
swooped past
swooped past participle
swooping present participle
swoops third person singular

Etymology

Swoop comes from an old sound word that copies a quick, sweeping movement, like the sound in swoosh. So to swoop down and grab something is like making a fast, powerful move, as a hawk does when it takes its prey.