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swing

verb · noun

Simple meaning

To ride on a swing.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

swing
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈswɪŋ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. intransitive

    To hang from the gallows; to be punished by hanging, swing for something or someone; (often hyperbolic) to be severely punished.

  2. intransitive

    To dance.

  3. transitive

    To change (a numerical result); especially to change the outcome of an election.

  4. Hang freely

  5. transitive

    To move (an object) backward and forward; to wave.

  6. intransitive

    To fluctuate or change.

noun

  1. A hanging seat that can swing back and forth, in a children's playground, for acrobats in a circus, or on a porch for relaxing.

  2. An energetic and acrobatic late-1930s partner-based dance style, also known as jitterbug and lindy-hop.

  3. A line, cord, or other thing suspended and hanging loose, upon which anything may swing.

  4. The amount of change towards or away from something.

  5. A basic dance step in which a pair link hands and turn round together in a circle.

  6. The maximum amount of change that has occurred or can occur; the sum of the maximum changes in any direction.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

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More ways to use swing

  • “The soccer player began to swing at the referee.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

porch swingswing backgolf swingvoltage swing

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • swingingnounInflected form

    Changing location by moving back and forth.

  • swingernounInflected form

    Someone who swings sports implements.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • swing musicnounCompound term

    A style of jazz played by big bands popular in the 1930s.

  • swing outverbCompound term

    Make a big sweeping gesture or movement.

  • swing oververbCompound term

    Influence decisively.

  • swing shiftnounCompound term

    The work shift during the evening (as 4 p.m. to midnight).

  • swing voternounCompound term

    A voter who has no allegiance to any political party and whose unpredictable decisions can swing the outcome of an election one way or the other.

  • swinging chadnounCompound term

    A chad that is incompletely removed and still attached at two corners.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.