swish
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A brushing or rustling sound.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
swishIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈswɪʃ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A brushing or rustling sound
A short rustling, hissing or whistling sound, often made by friction.
A hissing, sweeping movement through the air, as of an animal's tail.
A sound of liquid flowing inside a container.
A twig or bundle of twigs, used for administering beatings; a switch
adjective
Effeminate.
Attractive, stylish
britishcolloquial
Sophisticated; fashionable; smooth.
verb
To make a rustling sound while moving.
Move with or cause to move with a whistling or hissing sound
transitive
To cause a liquid to move around in a container, or in one's mouth.
transitive
To flourish with a swishing sound.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A brushing or rustling sound
Used this way, swish is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “swish” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
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.