SWIMMING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swimming mean? 

• SWIMMING (noun)
  The noun SWIMMING has 1 sense:

1. the act of swimming

  Familiarity information: SWIMMING used as a noun is very rare.

• SWIMMING (adjective)
  The adjective SWIMMING has 2 senses:

1. filled or brimming with tears

2. applied to a fish depicted horizontally

  Familiarity information: SWIMMING used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWIMMING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of swimming

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

swim; swimming

Context example:

they took a short swim in the pool

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

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

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

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 (travel through water)

• SWIMMING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Filled or brimming with tears

Synonyms:

liquid; swimming

Context example:

sorrow made the eyes of many grow liquid

Similar:

tearful (filled with or marked by tears)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Applied to a fish depicted horizontally

Synonyms:

naiant; swimming

Similar:

horizontal (parallel to or in the plane of the horizon or a base line)

Domain category:

heraldry (the study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies)

 Context examples 

The webbed feet aid in swimming.

(Labrador Retriever, NCI Thesaurus)

Here was little chance for swimming.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, Well, what is her will? What does your wife want?

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

And he, in turn, knew again the swimming sensation of bliss when he felt the contact of her hand in greeting.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

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

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

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)

The studies assessed physical activity by using surveys that asked about time spent in moderate to vigorous leisure-time physical activities, such as walking, running, or swimming.

(Physical activity associated with lower risk of many cancers, NIH)

The researchers looked separately at zebrafish carrying one of two different bacterial species frequently found in their gut: one that's fast-swimming and one that's almost completely aggregated in dense colonies.

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

“So we must get ashore without swimming, in some opening between the rocks through which we can drive the boat and clamber out. But we must be quick, most quick—and sure.”

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He swam powerfully and was dragged ashore by Pete and Hans at the very point where swimming ceased to be possible and destruction began.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)