Library / English Dictionary

SWIM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: swam    , swimming    , swum   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of swimming

Example:

they took a short swim in the pool

Synonyms:

swim; swimming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("swim" is a kind of...):

aquatics; water sport (sports that involve bodies of water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "swim"):

bathe (the act of swimming for pleasure or recreation)

skinny-dip (a naked swim)

dip; plunge (a brief swim in water)

dive; diving (a headlong plunge into water)

floating; natation (the act of someone who floats on the water)

skin-dive; skin diving (underwater swimming without any more breathing equipment than a snorkel)

Derivation:

swim (be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom)

swim (travel through water)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be afloat either on or below a liquid surface and not sink to the bottom

Synonyms:

float; swim

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swim" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Verb group:

float (move lightly, as if suspended)

float (set afloat)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swim"):

buoy (float on the surface of water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

These cars won't swim

Derivation:

swim (the act of swimming)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move as if gliding through water

Example:

this snake swims through the soil where it lives

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swim" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 3

Meaning:

Travel through water

Example:

a big fish was swimming in the tank

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "swim" is one way to...):

go; locomote; move; travel (change location; move, travel, or proceed, also metaphorically)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "swim"):

bathe (swim for pleasure or recreation)

school (swim in or form a large group of fish)

break water; fin (show the fins above the water while swimming)

fin (propel oneself through the water in a finning motion)

paddle (swim like a dog in shallow water)

crawl (swim by doing the crawl)

breaststroke (swim with the face down and extend the arms forward and outward while kicking with the leg)

backstroke (swim on one's back)

dive (swim under water)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence examples:

These men swim across the river

These men swim the river

Derivation:

swim (the act of swimming)

swimmer (a person who travels through the water by swimming)

swimmer (a trained athlete who participates in swimming meets)

swimming (the act of swimming)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Be covered with or submerged in a liquid

Example:

the meat was swimming in a fatty gravy

Synonyms:

drown; swim

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "swim" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 5

Meaning:

Be dizzy or giddy

Example:

my brain is swimming after the bottle of champagne

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "swim" is one way to...):

be (have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun))

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

My senses swam, but I still tore at the hand and forced it out from my chin.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here was little chance for swimming.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“Certes, I should have been in the river now but for you, for I was born in Warwickshire, which is but a dry county, and there are few who swim in those parts.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My head swam as I stood erect.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Who was there among us who could walk with him, or run with him, or swim with him?

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Bacteria and other swimming microorganisms evolved to thrive in challenging environments.

(Tiny swimming 'doughnuts' deliver the biomedical goods, National Science Foundation)

He knew I was in the swim down here, and asked me to pick up a good man cheap.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I ran back for a light and there was the poor fellow, a great gash in his throat and the whole place swimming in blood.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In the presence of the antibiotic, the fast-swimming species became much slower and formed aggregates, while the normally aggregated species shifted in structure to form even larger colonies, with less fragmentation.

(Impacts of low-dose exposure to antibiotics unveiled in zebrafish gut, National Science Foundation)

Preschoolers are most likely to drown in a swimming pool.

(Drowning, NIH)