swimmer

noun swim·mer \ ˈswi-mər \

Updated on: 25 Apr 2018

Definition of swimmer

plural swimmers

: a person or animal that swims

a competitive swimmer

a fast/strong swimmer

… he liked to tell us that he had been a powerful swimmer in his youth, but I never saw him in actual water save once, and he then came out very promptly, shivering and upset.
—H. L. Mencken

a dog that is an excellent swimmer

See swimmer defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of swimmer from the Web

The youngest among three swimmer siblings, Kramer won the 100 breaststroke (1:06.79) at Division 1 states after rebounding from a broken foot in January.

— BostonGlobe.com, "2017-18 Girls' Swimming All-Scholastics," 21 Apr. 2018
Sacramento County officials still advise swimmers to use caution at four sites along the American River near Discovery Park.

— taryn luna, sacbee, "E. coli levels drop at popular Sacramento beach | The Sacramento Bee," 21 Apr. 2018
Several of the featured athletes are international: Chinese martial artist and actress Zoe Zhang, French judoka Teddy Riner and Syrian swimmer Yusra Mardini, who competed in the most recent Olympics.

— christina tkacik, baltimoresun.com, "The Rock, other athletes star in Under Armour's motivational "Will Finds A Way" campaign," 20 Apr. 2018
Many swimmers were sporting creative and/or funny hats to compete for the best hat award.

— david g. allan, CNN, "Ice swim racing is not for the faint of heart -- literally," 20 Apr. 2018
The meet, which was sponsored by the Columbia Clippers swim team, was open to all Howard County public high school students and featured 146 swimmers that competed between a total of 17 events.

— brent kennedy, Howard County Times, "Mt. Hebron swimming rolls to fourth straight Howard County Invitational title," 17 Apr. 2018
Prenot starts strong Josh Prenot was the only swimmer Thursday with multiple top-three finishes.

— jeff metcalfe, azcentral, "Allison Schmitt happy with first race in return to competitive swimming," 12 Apr. 2018
Stensby became the first swimmer in Illinois to win both races in the same year since Ryan Held of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in 2014.

— chicago tribune, chicagotribune.com, "Lake Shore April challenge," 4 Apr. 2018
According to Mariemont coach Kevin Maness, Dupre is the first swimmer in school history to win multiple individual state titles in the same season.

— adam baum, Cincinnati.com, "Seven Hills' Callard, Mariemont's Dupre shine at OHSAA girls state swimming," 23 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'swimmer.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.