swimming stroke
- noun
- /ˈswɪmɪŋ stroʊk/
- Practicing the correct swimming stroke is essential for effective movement in the water.
Examples
-
The coach taught the swimmers various swimming strokes to enhance their speed and technique.
-
He crooks his left arm to make a circle for Anabella's head, and with his right arm, he makes swimming strokes and looks at me and smiles.
Fiction book (1994) -
Pulling himself backward with a kind of swimming stroke, he summoned Pamelia, his new courtesan.
Fiction book (1990) -
Learning different swimming strokes can significantly improve your overall swimming performance.
Synonyms
A movement of the arms and legs to move the body through water
A particular way of swimming, like freestyle or breaststroke
How Fast
- Specialized
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'swimming' specifies the domain and 'stroke' denotes a coordinated movement, so together they denote a specific way of moving in the water. This noun+noun combination is a straightforward, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase swimming stroke comes from the picture of moving your arm or leg in the water like a brush or paddle. The word stroke means one strong move and swimming shows where it happens, so the phrase names each way to 'move forward' in the water.