swoop

\ ˈswüp

How to pronounce swoop (audio)

\

swooped; swooping; swoops

Definition of swoop

(Entry 1 of 2)

intransitive verb

: to move with a sweep

transitive verb

: to gain or carry off in or as if in a swoop —usually used with up

swoop

Definition of swoop (Entry 2 of 2)

1 : an act or instance of swooping

2 : a single concentrated and quickly effective effort was done in one swoop —often used with fellsolved everything at one fell swoop

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Examples of swoop in a Sentence

Verb The police swooped in and captured the criminals.

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb Still, his swan possesses a surprising tenderness that contrasts vividly with his wildly cruel take on the Stranger, a man clad in black leather who swoops into the palace ball and seduces nearly everyone in sight. — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, "Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake," 6 Dec. 2019 Despite spanning various ages and locations, every single one of us had thick, choppy, deeply swooped bangs pushed to the side, blocking our line of vision like a furry eye patch. — Bella Cacciatore, Glamour, "Who Said We Should All Get These Bangs 10 Years Ago? Who?," 2 Dec. 2019 Ovechkin collected the puck at the right circle, swooped around the net and buried a shot inside the goalpost on Jonathan Bernier's stick side. — Dana Gauruder, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Red Wings' skid hits nine as Alex Ovechkin puts up hat trick for Capitals," 1 Dec. 2019 Ovechkin put a shot in off Bernier from the bottom of the left circle after swooping behind the net. — Paul Harris, baltimoresun.com, "Ovechkin gets hat trick with 2 empty-netters, Caps top Wings," 30 Nov. 2019 Last year, Bateman relied on his athletic ability — the kind of skill that had Georgia coach Kirby Smart swooping in late in the 2018 recruiting cycle to try to steal him from Minnesota. — Andy Greder, Twin Cities, "Scary thought: Gophers receiver Rashod Bateman has a ‘lot of room to grow’," 20 Nov. 2019 Each dive serves up new wonders: a manta swooping overhead, a solitary dolphin rolling around playfully on a reef, giant schools of snapper and fusiliers whirling around us like tornadoes, venomous sea kraits wafting through sunlit water. — National Geographic, "Three by sea: Life-changing tales from female travelers," 14 Nov. 2019 The room swoops and shifts as, eyes closed, my body seems to ride a crest, down into a trough. — Peter Rock, New York Times, "Around Milos, Swimming the Aegean Sea," 14 Nov. 2019 At several points during the show, Allen leads the ensemble in its sung numbers, swerving away from simple melody and into swooping, soaring gospel or foreboding blues. — Vinson Cunningham, The New Yorker, "An Ecstatic Revival of Ntozake Shange’s “for colored girls”," 28 Oct. 2019 Recent Examples on the Web: Noun The striker's nightmare looks to be coming to an end, however, as Record write that Mexican club Monterrey are trying to accelerate their $8m swoop and get a deal done in time for the start of the new Liga MX campaign next week. — SI.com, "Transfer Rumours: Man Utd Close on Maguire Alternative, Spurs Chase £30m Leeds Midfielder & More," 13 July 2019 That price is five times the typical price on the Russian network, wiping out the project's budget in one fell swoop. — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, "Text Messages Sent by Roaming Eagles Bankrupt Scientific Study," 29 Oct. 2019 Her hair is sleek and her baby hair slicked into swoops. — Leah Prinzivalli, Allure, "Selena Gomez's Two-Tone Braid Is So Simple to Recreate," 28 Oct. 2019 And that, dear readers, is when those rods, despite Bussert’s wrists appearing as firm as granite, suddenly moved in one, swift, perfectly parallel swoop to a picture of Lizzie hanging on the wall. — Andrea Simakis, cleveland, "Did she or didn’t she? On the bloody trail of Lizzie Borden in Fall River, Mass.," 20 Oct. 2019 Then, the space plane will detatch, fire up its engine and swoop directly upward, with two pilots at the controls. — Jackie Wattles, CNN, "Virgin Galactic unveils Under Armour spacesuits," 16 Oct. 2019 The pathos of the small-fry streamer: As the mega-corporations swoop in, smaller streaming services such as Tubi, Pluto TV and Crunchyroll find a way to compete. — Julia Wick, Los Angeles Times, "Newsletter: Welcome to the new dystopia," 11 Oct. 2019 Leicester City boss Claude Puel is weighing up the possibility of making a double transfer swoop for Crystal Palace's Andros Townsend and West Bromwich Albion's Jonny Evans according to reports. — SI.com, "Report Claims Leicester Are Pursuing Double Swoop for West Brom & Crystal Palace Stars," 5 June 2018 In 2009, a female whooping crane—the first in her swoop to successfully fledge a chick—was shot and killed by an Indiana man who was later fined $1 and ordered to pay $550 in court costs. — Justin Rohrlich, Quartz, "What kind of animal would shoot a whooping crane?," 29 Aug. 2019

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

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Last Updated

11 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Swoop.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swoop. Accessed 14 December 2019.

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