Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use swish in a sentence

30 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Swish means sophisticated; fashionable; smooth. Example: “This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.”

Examples of swish by meaning

adjectiveSophisticated; fashionable; smooth.

  • This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.
  • All the shabby railway buildings in front of the station concourse have either been removed or transformed into a shopping complex and swish homes.2020 June 3, Howard Johnston, “Regional News: Cambridge”, in Rail, page 23

adjectiveAttractive, stylish.

  • When the boys go swish, they always score2004, “Ladyflash”, in Thunder, Lightning, Strike, performed by The Go! Team
  • The Saints, who started the day third in the table, went marching on thanks to their own swish play and some staggering defending by the visitors.2014 October 18, Paul Doyle, “Southampton hammer eight past hapless Sunderland in barmy encounter”, in The Guardian

nounA hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.

  • As she trotted down the white path, each swish of her tail sent petals dancing through the air, falling where the bride would walk.2011, A. C. August, The Highway Cross, page 116

nounEffeminacy, effeminate or homosexual demeanor.

  • He got a little swish downriver.

verbTo make a rustling sound while moving.

  • The cane swishes.

verbTo flourish with a swishing sound.

  • to swish a cane back and forth

verbTo flog; to lash.

  • After Virginia came the twins, who were usually called "the Star and Stripes", as they were always getting swished.1906, Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost

verbTo mince or otherwise to behave in an effeminate manner.

  • I shall not swish; I'll merely act limp-wristed.
  • Ergo, I'd better not swish — not if I wanted the kind of sexual partners I thought I did.1986, Samuel R. Delany, Joseph Beam, “The Possibility of Possibilities”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page...

More sentences with swish

  • Watch this hook shot!" he shouted as he hooked the ball right through the net—swish!2012, Roland Johnson, Jeremya Jones: A King's Kid, page 93. From the entry hook
  • "Not like that," Snap growled, raising her four fists, swishing her thagomizer around threateningly.2008 September 17, L. E. Simmons, The Lady of Gold (SnapDragon Adventures 1), 1st edition, Lulu.com, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 135. From the entry thagomizer
  • After what feels like an hour, the ball arcs downward and swishes in.2003, Alan Eisenstock, “Injured Reserve”, in Ten on Sunday: The Secret Life of Men, New York, N.Y.: Atria Books, →ISBN, page 220. From the entry moon shot
  • Masked men and women, mainly white, swish past on sneakery soles.1994, Linda Villarosa, Body & Soul. From the entry sneakery
  • With the appropriate swishes and vocal flutings, they called him "Mary".1992, Martha Grimes, The End of the Pier, page 151. From the entry murray
  • Two Bird swishes and a Johnny Davis three-point air ball later, the victory was in the books.1982 Feb. 3, Bob Ryan, "Parish spruces up Celtics, 109-105," Boston Globe p. S-1 (retrieved 18 March 2013). From the entry in the books
  • I tried to swing my hips, to swish my skirt across the top of my calves, the way Mom's did.2008, Donna Milner, After River, London: Quercus, →ISBN, page 63. From the entry gibbled
  • I can hear the frictiony swish of leaf against leaf.2004, Michael Grant Jaffe, Whirlwind: A Novel, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 106. From the entry frictiony
  • The back of her tan trenchcoat swished from left to right as she scarfed her head and disappeared into the dusk.1994, Arthur Johnson, “Chinese Arithmetic”, in Tony Grima, editor, Not the Only One: Lesbian and Gay Fiction for Teens, Boston, Mass.…. From the entry scarf
  • There's a feline swish to her figure. . . .1993 January 31, Robert Butler, “In the middle and on the edge: Zoe Wanamaker”, in Independent, UK, retrieved 05 Apr 2018. From the entry ski-jump nose
  • Undertoning the howling siren I was aware of a distant swish, like that of a hurricane’s forerunning wind through palm fronds.1951 January, Arthur Leo Zagat, chapter 7, in Fantastic Novels Magazine. From the entry undertone
  • The gods, A.E. said, swished in to sit on the edge of the bed while he sketched them.1949, Sean O’Casey, “Dublin’s Glittering Guy”, in Inishfallen, Fare Thee Well, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, page 274. From the entry woa
  • The gentle sameishness of the milk swishing into the hand-bowl seemed to have soothed the burglar very much.1904, George Newnes, The Strand magazine. From the entry sameishness
  • Jet Airways’ minisuites are especially swish.2007 September 23, “The New New List”, in New York Times. From the entry minisuite
  • "My wife's diamonds, thank heaven!" cried Sir Benjamin, with the air of a schoolboy who was very well out of a swishing.1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados. From the entry swishing
  • You gotta werk it, babe." She puts a swish and swing into her next few steps before she bursts out laughing, and I have to join in.2020 November 9, Shae Connor, Rough and Tumble, Entangled: Embrace, →ISBN. From the entry work
  • Love vows to outrock the cooler-than-thou swish kids — and succeeds — chanting "Gabba-gabba baby" and "Shut up!" until there's a puddle of sweat on the floorboards.2004, SPIN, page 90. From the entry outrock
  • Next, swinging a censer, Divié blessed the poto mitan and all the ounsis who raised their skirts and swished them around to get the full effect of the incense.1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 277. From the entry potomitan
  • In the North Atlantic, Russians pioneered the harvesting of rattails, a ubiquitous deep fish with big eyes and a long tail that swishes back and forth in a sinuous motion.1995 December 26, William J. Broad, “Creatures of the Deep Find Their Way to the Table”, in The New York Times. From the entry rattail

Meaning of swish

  1. adjective Sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.
  2. adjective Attractive, stylish.
  3. adjective Effeminate.

Full definition of swish

Questions about swish in a sentence

How do you use swish in a sentence?
Swish is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “This restaurant looks very swish — it even has linen tablecloths.”
What is a short sentence with swish?
“The cane swishes.”
What does swish mean?
Swish means sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.

Source and license

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