Definition of natatorial
1 : of or relating to swimming
2 : adapted to or characterized by swimming a natatorial leg of an aquatic insect
Explore M-W
natatorial was our Word of the Day on 12/15/2015. Hear the podcast!
Theme music by Joshua Stamper ©2006 New Jerusalem Music/ASCAP
Did You Know?
On a warm spring weekday afternoon, the local swimming hole beckons . . . and boys will be boys. "Mr. Foster [the town truant officer] knew very well where to find us . . . at our vernal and natatorial frolics," confessed John Gould in The Christian Science Monitor (January 10, 1992), some 70 years after that warm spring day of his youth. The Latin verb natare, meaning "to swim," gave English the word natatorial and its variant "natatory." It also gave us "natant" ("swimming or floating in water"); "supernatant" ("floating on the surface"); "natation" ("the action or art of swimming"); and last but not least, "natatorium" ("an indoor swimming pool").
First Known Use of natatorial
1816
Learn More about natatorial
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up natatorial? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!