Word
swimming
Phoneticsswim·ming
US/ˈswɪmɪŋ/
UK/swˈɪmɪŋ/
Definitions
01the activity or sport
n. the activity or sport of moving through water.
n. the act or art of sustaining and propelling the body in water, often for recreation or competition.
“Swimming is a great way to stay fit and cool during the summer.”
“The local council invested in the new leisure centre to encourage swimming among the youth population.”
Usage
Often functions as an uncountable noun when referring to the sport in general.
Pitfall
I am going to swimming this afternoon.
I am going swimming this afternoon.
When using 'go' with sports ending in -ing, do not use 'to'.
Synonyms
03dizziness
n. a feeling that everything is spinning around you.
n. a state of dizziness or vertigo, often used in the phrase 'a swimming in the head'.
“He felt a strange swimming in his head after standing up too quickly.”
“The patient complained of a persistent swimming in the head, which the physician attributed to a minor inner-ear infection.”
Literary · Archaic
Teaching tip
This sense is rare in modern conversation; learners will almost always encounter 'dizzy' or 'dizziness' instead.
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English swymmynge. Equivalent to swim (“to move through water”, verb) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds).
From swim (“to be dizzy”, verb) + -ing (suffix forming gerunds).
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Collocations
Word family
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/swimming