Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use swim in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Swim means to move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means. Example: “For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.”

Examples of swim by meaning

verbTo move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.

  • The design was some way after Corbusier but the block was built up on plinths and resembled an Atlantic liner swimming diagonally across the site.1963, Margery Allingham, “Foreword”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  • Meanwhile, NR faced an unexpected challenge when a night watchman spotted several Koi Carp swimming in floodwater close to the railway, after they had escaped from a nearby private residence.2020 May 20, Paul Stephen, “NR beats floods to secure tracks to Drax”, in Rail, page 59

verbTo become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.

  • swimming in self-pity
  • a bare few bits of meat swimming in watery sauce

verbTo traverse (a specific body of water, or a specific distance) by swimming; or, to use a specific swimming stroke; or...

  • For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.
  • I want to swim the 200-yard breaststroke in the finals.

verbTo cause to swim.

  • to swim a horse across a river
  • Half of the guinea pigs were swum daily.

verbTo float.

  • sink or swim
  • There's oil swimming on the water.

verbTo immerse in water to make the lighter parts float.

  • to swim wheat in order to select seed

verbTo have a great quantity of something.

  • You should be swimming in money after this job.

nounAn act or instance of swimming.

  • I'm going for a swim.
  • She had a quick swim in the bay.

More sentences with swim

  • A sea turtle's paddles make it swim almost as fast as land tortoises are slow.From the entry paddle
  • It's dangerous to swim in that river — there were three drownings there last year.From the entry drowning
  • She (was) drowned while trying to swim across the English Channel.From the entry drowned
  • Admittedly he can't swim, but he still loves going to the seaside anyway.From the entry admittedly
  • Fish innately know how to swim, they don't go to school to learn it.From the entry innately
  • She seriously wants to swim across the English Channel? Man, that's crazy talk.From the entry crazy talk
  • Go scuba diving? For one thing, I can't even swim.From the entry for
  • It is hard work to swim against the current.From the entry against
  • Teaching oneself to swim can be dangerous.From the entry oneself
  • The divers wore fins to swim faster.From the entry fin
  • John had a sauna after his swim.From the entry sauna
  • Joanne went for a sauna after her swim.From the entry sauna
  • We had a gentle swim in the lake.From the entry gentle
  • Put on your swimsuit and let's go for a swim.From the entry swimsuit
  • In this part of the river salmon swim deeply.From the entry deeply
  • Fish instinctively know how to swim; most humans don't.From the entry instinctively
  • I'll go for a swim if it's warm enough.From the entry go for
  • The eight-tentacled octopus swam through the water.From the entry tentacled
  • I had to relearn how to swim properly.From the entry relearn
  • You shouldn't swim on a full stomach.From the entry on a full stomach
  • He was aiming to get into the school swimming team, and to that end he swam every evening.From the entry to that end
  • I don't want to swim in the overchlorinated pool.From the entry overchlorinated
  • I usually manage to edge in a swim after work.From the entry edge in
  • Not to rub it in, but I'm working from home. So I took a swim this morning and have been thoroughly enjoying the beautiful weather.From the entry rub it in
  • There's no such thing as formal apprenticeship in this industry. The only preparation you get is some basic training where you sink or swim while trying to look alive.From the entry basic training
  • I told my daughter to get her hair dyed at a salon, but she had to swim upstream and do it herself. Now it's a mess.From the entry swim upstream

Meaning of swim

  1. verb To move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.
  2. verb To become immersed in, or as if in, or flooded with, or as if with, a liquid.
  3. verb To move around freely because of excess space.

Full definition of swim

Questions about swim in a sentence

How do you use swim in a sentence?
Swim is used as a verb and noun. For example: “For exercise, we like to swim laps around the pool.”
What is a short sentence with swim?
“sink or swim”
What does swim mean?
Swim means to move through the water, without touching the bottom; to propel oneself in water by natural means.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: swim (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 swim in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/swim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.