swirl
/swɜːl/US/swɝl/
swirl verb: to twist or whirl, as an eddy.
Verb
swirl (third-person singular simple present swirls, present participle swirling, simple past and past participle swirled)
- To twist or whirl, as an eddy.
- I swirled my brush around in the paint.
- The river swirled along.1857, Charles Kingsley, “(please specify the page)”, in Two Years Ago, volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC
- To be arranged in a twist, spiral or whorl.
- To circulate.
- Mr. 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
- To mingle interracially.
Noun
swirl (plural swirls)
- A whirling eddy.
- Winston Smith, his chin nuzzled into his breast in an effort to escape the vile wind, slipped quickly through the glass doors of Victory Mansions, though not quickly enough to prevent a swirl of gritty dust from entering along with him.1949 June 8, George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC, Part I, Chapter I
- A twist or coil of something.
- The upward rushing of a fish through the water to take the bait.
- Interracial 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
- Synonym of pinwheel (“food product with spiral layers”).
- I'm baking some cheese swirls.
swirl meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Kannada
swirl in Tamil
- சுழிப்பு, நீர்ச் சுழிப்பு, சுழல்
swirl in Bengali
- ঘোরানো, পাক খাওয়া
swirl in Malayalam
- ചുഴറ്റിക്കൊണ്ടുപോകുക, കറങ്ങിമറിക്കുക
swirl in Kannada
- ಸುತ್ತುಹಾಕು, ಸುತ್ತುಸುತ್ತು, ತಿರುಗು
More languagesFewer languages
- swirl in Arabic
- دُوَّامَة duwwāma
Examples of swirl in a sentence
- The two bi-planes swirled around each other like angry wasps in a violent dogfight.
- The long skirts of the dancers swirled around them billowingly.
- A bell chimes as you open the door, and fans swirl below a pressed-tin ceiling.
Synonyms of swirl
Forms of swirl
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | swirls |
| present participle | swirling |
| past participle | swirled |
| past | swirled |
| Noun | |
| plural | swirls |
Origin of swirl
From Middle English swirlen (“to eddy, swirl”), probably from Old Norse *svirla (“to swirl”), a frequentative form of Old Norse sverra (“to swing, twirl”). Cognate with Scots swirl, sworl (“to eddy, swirl”), Norwegian Nynorsk svirla (“to whirl around; swirl”), Swedish sorla (“to murmur, buzz”), Dutch zwirrelen (“to swirl”). Compare also West Frisian swiere (“to reel, whirl”), Dutch zwieren (“to reel, swing around”), German Low German swirren (“to whizz, whirl or buzz around”), German schwirren (“to whirr, whizz, buzz”), Swedish svirra (“to whirr about, buzz, hum”), Danish svirre (“to whizz, whirr”). Related to English swarm.
Words formed from swirl
Phrases with swirl
Words that rhyme with swirl
Questions about swirl
- What does swirl mean?
- Swirl means to twist or whirl, as an eddy.
- What is swirl in Tamil?
- Swirl in Tamil is சுழிப்பு, நீர்ச் சுழிப்பு, சுழல். See Swirl meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is swirl?
- Swirl can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce swirl?
- Swirl is pronounced /swɜːl/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of swirl?
- The past tense of swirl is swirled.
Words near swirl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swirl (page history and authors); swirl (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); swirl (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); swirl (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); swirl (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-swirl.wav.
Cite this entry: “swirl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swirl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.