SWIMMING Synonyms: 32 Similar and Opposite Words

swimming

verb

Definition of swimming

present participle of swim

as in spinning

to be in a confused state as if from being twirled around his head was swimming after he was given so much information on his first day at the new job

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in sailing

to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air there appeared to be an oily film swimming on the water

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of swimming Kat and Aesha take the guests swimming in some nearby caves while the rest of the crew holds down the fort. — Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 4 Aug. 2026 Sanchez said that the ruling had been intentionally misconstrued by migrant smugglers to convince thousands of people to cross by swimming around the border fence. — ABC News, 4 Aug. 2026 In June 2022, another member of Fox’s swimming club, the Kelp Krawlers, Steve Bruemmer, was bitten and seriously injured while swimming in the same area. — Paul Rogers, Mercury News, 3 Aug. 2026 Stephen Meyer lost the ring in 2016 while swimming with his son in Minnesota’s Lake Belle Taine, where his family has a cabin, per the Pioneer Press. — Erin Clack, PEOPLE, 3 Aug. 2026 Primus could easily have been a blip, one of many abortive major label risks in a decade when the industry was swimming in cash. — Sasha Geffen, Pitchfork, 2 Aug. 2026 The individuals sampled for the study had been actively swimming, hunting and taking bait before capture! — Melissa Cristina Márquez, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026 With shark sightings making headlines along the California coast, many beachgoers are wondering what might be swimming beneath them. — Denis Akbari, USA Today, 1 Aug. 2026 Here’s why adults are swimming for better health Add this to the healthy, fun retirementcore activity list. — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 28 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for swimming

Verb

Eating disorders, as those in recovery have stressed, thrive on the pathological evidence of their symptoms, spinning negative attention—concern, disgust—into fatal affirmations.

— Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 8 Aug. 2026
And her block on Sabrina Ionescu moments before halftime preceded her sprinting past multiple Liberty players, receiving a bounce pass from Flau’jae Johnson, spinning by Rebekah Gardner and easily scoring two of 15 first-half points.

— Fiifi Frimpong, New York Daily News, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of spinning

Verb

On Tuesday, July 28, the Viking Ullur ship was sailing down the Danube River, Europe’s second-longest river that flows from southwestern Germany to the Black Sea.

— Colson Thayer, PEOPLE, 30 July 2026
That connection comes into focus on the Lake-to-Estate Voyage, sailing from the Kelowna Yacht Club to three of the city’s best vineyards and tracing the journey from water to wine.

— Lisa Kadane, Travel + Leisure, 29 July 2026

Definition of sailing

Verb

Shares are down more than 28 percent over the past month, currently hovering around $114, which is miles below its mid-June record high of $225.

— Victor Tangermann, Futurism, 6 Aug. 2026
Future tests could include trying to use giant arms at its Starbase launching site in Texas to grab the rocket and its booster upon its hovering return to earth.

— Bernard Condon, Fortune, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of hovering

Verb

The project, which involves a partnership between the University of Miami Rosenstiel School and other researchers, focuses on collecting floating coral egg and sperm bundles.

— Joan Murray, CBS News, 6 Aug. 2026
Next is the soft fragrance of iris floating from a field of blooms to the right.

— Dana Thomas, Architectural Digest, 6 Aug. 2026

Definition of floating

Verb

Video from his dash camera shows the aircraft gliding under a highway sign, missing it by mere feet, before touching down in the empty lanes.

— Aaron Cooper, CNN Money, 4 Aug. 2026
And there was Nacua, gliding underneath the pass and taking it to the end zone to a roar of cheers.

— Nate Atkins, New York Times, 30 July 2026

Definition of gliding

Verb

There’s little sense of forward motion in these tracks, but even when simply drifting in place, the blend of atmosphere and physicality—sunset glow meets seismic throb—is payoff enough.

— Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 4 Aug. 2026
The capital is drifting down-market, into hands-on companies.

— Louis Mosca, Forbes.com, 4 Aug. 2026

Definition of drifting

Browse Nearby Words

swim

swimming

swimmingly

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Cite this Entry

Style

“Swimming.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swimming. Accessed 9 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of swimming

verb

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