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skin diving

skin diving

1 3.5
Swimming underwater with a snorkel but without scuba gear
  • noun
  • /skɪn ˈdaɪvɪŋ/
translation icon : snorkel
  • Many tourists enjoy skin diving in the clear waters of the Caribbean to see colorful fish and marine life.

Examples

  • During our vacation in Maui, we spent every afternoon skin diving to explore the vibrant coral reefs.

  • How about some skin diving?

  • Did some skin diving on that exact spot.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • I'm taking my boat over to Pirate Rock... to do some skin diving, look for treasure.

  • Uh, uh... l think the kids would like to hear about my, uh, skin-diving off Malibu.

  • Used one on a hammerhead back in '97 when I was skin-diving.

  • Swimming, sailing, snorkeling, skin diving, shuffleboard, and Buck Gardner's Aquarena Amusement Arcade.

  • She loves skin diving because it allows her to observe the underwater world without heavy equipment.

Synonyms

snorkeling
vsskin diving
  • US
16 3.0

An activity of swimming on the surface using a mask and breathing tube to look underwater

is more about full underwater swimming rather than relaxed surface observation
skin-dive
vsskin diving
5.6

An activity of swimming underwater using only a snorkel

is the same meaning written as two separate words
snorkel diving
vsskin diving
3.2

Swimming near the water surface while breathing through a tube to see under the water

focuses on swimming underwater rather than staying at the surface

How Deep

scuba diving
18 3.2
skin diving
1 3.5
to swim
133 1.0

Surface Forms

skin diving singular
skin divings plural

Morphology

skin + dive

The element 'dive' clearly signals the underwater-swimming activity, but 'skin' does not transparently convey 'without scuba gear' to a B1 learner (it could be misread as relating to the body's skin or surface). The specialized sports sense—'diving using only one’s skin/no equipment or only a snorkel'—is a language-specific extension that is partially inferable from the parts but requires prior exposure, so it is best classified as semi-transparent.

Etymology

Skin diving comes from the simple image of diving with only your skin showing and no heavy equipment. That's why Skin diving means 'diving underwater with only a snorkel and no scuba gear'.