Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use swirl in a sentence

40 example sentences · verb, noun

Swirl means to twist or whirl, as an eddy. Example: “I swirled my brush around in the paint.”

Examples of swirl by meaning

verbTo twist or whirl, as an eddy.

  • I swirled my brush around in the paint.
  • The contest was a lot more even in the second half, as the wind swirled around the Stadium of Light, but it took Craig Gardner's superb block to prevent Young getting on the scoresheet.2012 May 13, Alistair Magowan, “Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

verbTo circulate.

  • Cameron had a respite Thursday from the negative chatter swirling around him when he appeared outside 10 Downing Street to denounce the murder a day before of a British soldier on a London street.2013 May 23, Sarah Lyall, “British Leader’s Liberal Turn Sets Off a Rebellion in His Party”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 May 2013
  • Rumors began to swirl last week that Dion would once again be performing after posters with her various song titles began popping up around the French capital.2026 March 31, Lisa Respers France, “Celine Dion announces her return to the stage”, in edition.cnn.com

nounInterracial mingling (e.g. dating, sex, marriage, etc.).

  • She told that white boy she wasn't down with the swirl and to take himself a hike.
  • In truth, it was more to do with keeping up with the latest gossip on YouTube famous interracial ‘swirl’ couples and reality stars.2023, Yomi Adegoke, The List, 4th Estate, page 198

nounSynonym of pinwheel (“food product with spiral layers”).

  • I'm baking some cheese swirls.

More sentences with swirl

  • The two bi-planes swirled around each other like angry wasps in a violent dogfight.From the entry dogfight
  • The long skirts of the dancers swirled around them billowingly.From the entry billowingly
  • A bell chimes as you open the door, and fans swirl below a pressed-tin ceiling.2019 April 10, Adrian Higgins, “This florist started caring for ailing orchids on the side. He’s now babysitting 13,000.”, in The…. From the entry cattleya
  • He stuck his finger into each and stirred; the liquor swirled and got foggy.2018, Shiv Kotecha, The Switch, United States: Wonder, →ISBN, page 122. From the entry ouzo
  • He'd baked her a dark chocolate cookie with a white heart swirled on the top.2016, Gail Chianese, Fiancé for Keeps, Lyrical Press, →ISBN. From the entry goody
  • Language must be further defined through language, more tonguely flexing, more mobilized spittle, more swirls of ink.2016, Esther Leslie, “Meltwater”, in Liquid Crystals: The Science and Art of a Fluid Form, London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 189. From the entry tonguely
  • Did you know that Mozarkite, with its pretty pink and purple swirls is our state rock?2010, Judy Young, S is for Show Me: A Missouri Alphabet, →ISBN. From the entry mozarkite
  • Her face made him smile, and twitterpation swirled in his belly.2010, Rachel Hauck, Dining with Joy. From the entry twitterpation
  • The memory of the swirling netherness sent a chill down her spine.2007, Eilis Flynn, The Sleeper Awakes. From the entry netherness
  • Wielding his flashlight like a lightsaber, Kyle sent golden shafts slicing through the swirling vapors.2004, Rob N. Hood, Beyond the Wind, Binghamton, N.Y.: Southern Tier Editions/Harrington Park Press, →ISBN, page 1. From the entry lightsaber
  • This is an area of spectacular tidal races, rips, swirls, boils, whirlpools, overfalls, currents, and countercurrents.2003 December, Jonathan Raban, “Julia and the Whirlpools”, in Cruising World, volume 29, number 12, page 40. From the entry race
  • “I'm rinsing myhair in it, nut-head,” Julie said from beneath the swirl of dark blond hair.2001, Dorothy Garlock, The Edge of Town, →ISBN. From the entry nut-head
  • Everything swirled, all ablur from the tears swimming in her eyes.2000, Julia Hanlon, Mine for All Time, Kensington, →ISBN, page 271. From the entry ablur
  • Once you've swirled, close your eyes and take a good breathful of the wine.1999, Dennis Overstreet, Overstreet's New Wine Guide: Celebrating the New Wave in Winemaking. From the entry breathful
  • Do it!, stir up your energy until it's swirling around like a leaf storm inside your body.1998, Charles William Smith, Understanding Women: A Novel, →ISBN, page 276. From the entry leaf-storm
  • They swirl about in a semicrouch, coming together to form a circle with their fans.1988 June 17, Sarah Kaufman, “Momix With Shadowfax”, in Chicago Reader, archived from the original on 29 Nov 2020. From the entry semicrouch
  • Dark mists swirled round them and elephantine shapes lurked indistinctly in the shadows.1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, →ISBN, page 132. From the entry elephantine
  • Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls.1967, S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders. From the entry tacky
  • She swirled it slowly behind her until it stood up like a peacock's tail.1954, Ian Fleming, “Table Z”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 57. From the entry vee
  • Placing the hoops in this position makes skirts hip hop with a swirl.1939 July 14, The West Australian, Perth, page 6, column 4. From the entry hip-hop
  • The last of the milk vanished in a swirl of foam and gurgling.1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 15, in The Yearling, New York: Scribner, page 174. From the entry foam
  • As they reached the street the ‘Duchess’ caught a swirling hem of lace about her chilling ankles.1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 22. From the entry chilling
  • Reid Wiseman of NASA, the mission’s commander, eagerly noted impact craters and a swirl on the lunar surface.2026 April 7, Katrina Miller, “Houston, We Have No Problem. But We Do Have a Lot of ‘Moon Joy.’”, in NYT, archived from the original on 10…. From the entry moon joy
  • Skirls of snow are swirling across the ice of Indian Lake, meaning things are about to pick up again.2023 September 26, Stephen Graham Jones, Don't Fear the Reaper, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 32. From the entry skirl
  • And with her head swirling with images of ancient druid rituals, she merrily set up her laptop on the kitchen table.2021 April 19, Daren Kay, The Brightonians, Grosvenor House Publishing, →ISBN. From the entry soccasin
  • On the very top row stand clear glass bottles with swirling liquids ranging from neon yellow and blue to unicorn puke.2020, Alesha Escobar, The Wayward Wizard, Creative Alchemy, →ISBN, page 14. From the entry unicorn puke
  • The circle pit then swirls anew for Open the Till, which features a yellable chorus and more gnomic Skinnerisms.2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor…. From the entry circle pit
  • Makela waltzes past, her feathered cape swirling.2015, Anthony Nanson, Deep Time, Hawthorn Press, →ISBN. From the entry beastmistress
  • A whole swirl of turnarounds hurricaned from him.2014, D.H. Melhem, Heroism in the New Black Poetry: Introductions and Interviews. From the entry hurricane
  • There’s only what I’m graffing—the swirls and orbs and flecks and tags, the pictures I’m making for Stefan.2014, Beth Kephart, “SO36”, in Going Over, San Francisco, Calif.: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, page 9. From the entry graff
  • A corpse swirled past me, gape-mouthed, fish-white, dull eyed.2014, Robert Holdstock, Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn, →ISBN. From the entry gape-mouthed
  • Those turbid emotions swirled inside him again—part frustration, part anxiety.2012, Julia James, The Dark Side Of Desire, →ISBN. From the entry turbid
  • When I caught up to the swirling cherry top lights, I stopped to rest and to check out what was happening.2010, Michael Stull, Wallowing: The Joys and Pains of a Common Joe, page 43. From the entry cherry top

Meaning of swirl

  1. verb To twist or whirl, as an eddy.
  2. verb To be arranged in a twist, spiral or whorl.
  3. verb To circulate.

Full definition of swirl

Questions about swirl in a sentence

How do you use swirl in a sentence?
Swirl is used as a verb and noun. For example: “I swirled my brush around in the paint.”
What is a short sentence with swirl?
“I'm baking some cheese swirls.”
What does swirl mean?
Swirl means to twist or whirl, as an eddy.

Source and license

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