Word of the Day

: July 23, 2008

natatorial

adjective nay-tuh-TOR-ee-ul

What It Means

1 : of or relating to swimming

2 : adapted to or characterized by swimming

natatorial in Context

The Olympic swimmer's natatorial prowess was on full display as she won her fifth gold medal.

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").