Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use surf in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Surf means waves that break on an ocean shoreline. Example: “We went for a surf this morning.”

Examples of surf by meaning

nounWaves that break on an ocean shoreline.

  • It was alone, nervously alighting and flying short distances along the surf.1900, Joseph Grinnell, Birds of the Kotzebue Sound Region, Alaska, page 12
  • In most instances the inshore holes or pockets along the surf do not produce as well as the cuts or sloughs between sand bars.1941, Raymond Russell Camp, Fishing the Surf, page 248
  • Snook are found in rivers, canals, inlets and along the surf, especially around sand bars, tidal rips, jetties, bridges and piers.1963, Vlad Evanoff, Spin Fishing, page 181

nounAn instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.

  • We went for a surf this morning.

nounA dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.

  • She's up on all the latest steps like the frug, the hully-gully and the surf.1964 July 15, The Australian, Sydney, page 20, column 3

More sentences with surf

  • All you ever do is surf the Internet. What will you do this afternoon?From the entry do
  • I was struck dumb. Here was the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life coming out of the surf.From the entry handsome
  • The ship’s back broke in the pounding surf.From the entry back
  • Hugo had a recording of someone playing the chimes against a background of surf noise that she found calming.From the entry chime
  • My dad loves his job as a surf lifesaver.From the entry lifesaver
  • A polychronic person may watch television, surf the Internet and talk on the telephone at the same time.From the entry polychronic
  • A fisherman, getting in his last surf casts before the rain, offers it to me.2014, William Powers, New Slow City: Living Simply in the World's Fastest City, →ISBN, page 186. From the entry surf cast
  • It looks like he's going fishing off the pier but maybe he surf casts.2013, Henry Broder, Killing Little Ralphie: A Coney Island Story, →ISBN. From the entry surf cast
  • Be careful in winter, when high surf and rip currents make swimming dangerous.2010, Jeanette Foster, Frommer′s Kauai, page 168. From the entry rip current
  • It is the first day of training for a group of ten ‘little nippers’ (novice surf life-savers).2008, Tania Cassidy, Robyn L. Jones, Paul Potrac, Understanding Sports Coaching: The Social, Cultural and Pedagogical Foundations of…. From the entry nipper
  • Many gummy sharks are caught off the surf beaches every season.2008, Rex Hunt, Fishing Guide to Melbourne and Surrounds, page 77. From the entry gummy shark
  • If you surf regularly, then you're going to ding your board.2007 September, “Ding Repairs”, BBC Wales, archived on 5 October 2014. From the entry ding
  • Sea birds swooped and dived over the surf and called mewingly to one another.2007, Katherine Hill, The Oxwagon List, page 73. From the entry mewingly
  • Surfing meaning to surf decently most normal surfspots in the world, no gooning out.2006 June 28, LeeD, “Re: Advice for windsurfing articles”, in rec.windsurfing (Usenet). From the entry goon
  • Indeed, surf casting is the lowest-percentage fishing technique you might choose, other than, say, scooping fish bare-handed.2006 November, Fred Abatemarco, “Hallowed be thy beach: Montauk”, in Best Life, volume 3, number 9, page 34. From the entry surf casting
  • Up until then, I had only surfed Rincon a couple of times.2003, Herb Torrens, Paraffin Chronicles, page 77. From the entry go-out
  • Mal rider, shortboard or lid everyone surfs like a kook sometimes.2001, realsurf.com message board. From the entry lid
  • A bikini . . . tends to slip and slide a bit in the surf.1981 January 11, “Stunning for Sunning”, in New York Times, retrieved 25 May 2015. From the entry sun worshipper
  • Late departers (late May) are surf scoters, while harlequins and white-winged scoters may occur in summer.1961, British Columbia Provincial Museum, Report of the Provincial Museum of Natural History, page 22. From the entry departer
  • Xenofeminism sees the rising wave of technocracy but instead of searching for a buoy, it wants to catch the surf.2019, Bogna M. Konior, “Automate the Womb: Ecologies and Technologies of Reproduction”, in Parrhesia, number 31, page 232. From the entry xenofeminism
  • For there are many kinds of freedom, not just the ones that involve surf and lungfuls of fresh air.2014, Rebecca Ley, “City versus country childhoods”, in The Guardian, +201 December 2014. From the entry lungful
  • Hollister is the must-have surf brand for those who have never even held surf wax, much less a "surfbort."2014 September 6, Gregory Babcock, “15 Great Pieces From Unlikely Brands”, in Complex. From the entry surfbort
  • This equates to nearly 40% of our total membership and shows just how significant the junior movement is within surf lifesaving.2013 September 5, Eve Jeffery, “Nippers season begins on the north coast”, in Echonetdaily. From the entry nipper
  • With nothing to cause temptation, there will be no reason for him to counter surf other than to grab your attention.2011, Bardi McLennan, Miriam Fields-Babineau, Puppy Training. From the entry counter surf
  • The wind was tearing it up, the waves at least eight to ten feet high as the surf crashed on shore.2010, Gwenna Sebastian, Lost and Found. From the entry tear it up
  • Kristin Davis has taken time out to enjoy the surf and sand with her Australian beau, photographer Russell James.2009 December 10, Philippa Bourke, Monsters and Critics. From the entry beau
  • Yesterday's hot weather saw bayside beaches and coastal resorts packed, with surf lifesavers reporting 45 rescues across the state.2009 January 14, Mark Buttler, “Teenager drowns off Edithvale Beach”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2009. From the entry bayside
  • Beachbreaks excepted, ground swells generally produce high-quality surf.2005, Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, page 239. From the entry ground swell
  • Dealing with closeouts is something every surfer should learn – especially if you live and surf in California.2004, Chris Cote, “HOW TO Backside Closeout Snap with Andy Irons - Ending your ride with style and drama.”, in Transworld Surf. From the entry closeout
  • Ask anyone who's been there and they'll tell you the same thing - there's no surf in Tahiti.1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer. From the entry barrier reef
  • It is a curious quality of the bathing beauty that there is no requirement of surf or lake in her experience.1933, Alfred Emanuel Smith, New Outlook, Outlook Publishing Company, Inc., page 30. From the entry bathing beauty
  • The surf was not heavy, and there was no undertow, so we made shore easily, effecting an equally easy landing.1918 September–November, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Land That Time Forgot”, in The Blue Book Magazine, Chicago, Ill.: Story-press Corp.…. From the entry heavy
  • Wilson — who didn’t surf — became one of pop’s most gifted and idiosyncratic studio auteurs, crafting complex and innovative productions that awed his peers.2025 June 11, Ben Sisario, “Brian Wilson, Songwriter and Leader of the Beach Boys, Dies at 82”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry auteur
  • Oft considered the most even playing field on which to measure surf mastery, Slater’s innovative machine is a barrel-synthesizing environment and engineering feat.2021 August 25, Jilli Cluff, “Kelly Slater’s Artificial Wave Will Crown ‘The Ultimate Surfer’ on Hulu”, in GearJunkie. From the entry curler
  • Sand tigers prefer hunting fish and invertebrates inshore near reefs, surf, and shallow bays, and migrate north-south with the seasonal temperature changes.2018, Peter Cooper, Lindsay French, and Gavin Naylor, Discover Fishes: Sand Tiger Shark, page 1. From the entry sand tiger

Meaning of surf

  1. noun Waves that break on an ocean shoreline.
  2. noun An instance or session of riding a surfboard in the surf.
  3. noun A dance popular in the 1960s in which the movements of a surfboard rider are mimicked.

Full definition of surf

Questions about surf in a sentence

How do you use surf in a sentence?
Surf is used as a noun and verb. For example: “We went for a surf this morning.”
What is a short sentence with surf?
“We went for a surf this morning.”
What does surf mean?
Surf means waves that break on an ocean shoreline.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: surf (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use surf in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/surf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.