swing

UK/ˈswɪŋ/US/ˈswɪŋ/

verbA24 meanings Very common — you will meet it every day · #1,264 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: swings, swinging, swung

To swing is to move back and forth through the air with one end staying put. A rope hanging off a branch, a bag going back and forth in your hand as you walk, a gate left open in the wind.

It is a noun as well: the swing in the park, and the swing of an axe or a bat. Doors swing open, moods and opinions swing from one side to the other — mood swings, a swing of five points to the other party — and a boxer swings at the man in front of him. The past tense is swung, never swinged. Watch the phrases too: a party in full swing is at its busiest, and getting into the swing of it is finding the rhythm of something new.

Definitions of swing

1verbswingTo move back and forth through the air while hanging from a fixed point.A2~6%
“The rope swings gently from the branch.”
synonyms: sway, rock
2verbcurveTo move something through the air in a curve.B1~28%
“She swings her bag onto her shoulder and walks off.”
3nounseatA seat hung on ropes or chains for children to ride.A2~16%
“There is one swing left free at the far end of the park.”
4nounshiftA clear change from one opinion, mood or position to another.B2~50%
“The poll shows a swing towards the smaller parties.”
synonyms: shift

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 179 sentences found in the wild and placed 76 of them on a sense (103 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.

Phrases it lives in

in full swing — at its busiest, already well under way
get into the swing of it — find the rhythm of something new
swings and roundabouts — what you lose one way you gain the other

Where it comes from

Swing is one of the old ones. Old English had swingan, and the same word still swings across the North Sea — German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga. A thousand years, and the shape of it has barely moved.

Proto-Indo-European
*swenk-
Proto-Germanic
*swinganą
Proto-West Germanic
*swingan
Old English
swingan
Middle English
swyngen
English, today
swing

From Middle English swyngen, from Old English swingan, from Proto-West Germanic swingan, from Proto-Germanic swinganą (compare Low German swingen, German schwingen, Dutch zwingen, Swedish svinga), from Proto-Indo-European swenk-, sweng- (compare Scottish Gaelic seang (“thin”)). Related to swink.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Everyday Verbs, A Man Called Ove, Games & Toys, Ways of Moving

First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

swing in the wild

From 1935 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States.
Benny Goodman
People may choose a swinging lifestyle for a variety of reasons.
Swinging (sexual practice)
Some people may engage in swinging to add variety into their otherwise conventional sex lives or due to their curiosity.
Swinging (sexual practice)
Hundreds of styles of swing dancing were developed; those that have survived beyond that era include Charleston, Balboa, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, and Collegiate Shag.
Swing (dance)
Historically, the word swing referred to a style of jazz music, which inspired the evolution of the dance.
Swing (dance)

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

Definitions of swing

1verbswingTo move back and forth through the air while hanging from a fixed point.A2~6%

“The rope swings gently from the branch.”

synonyms: sway, rock

2verbcurveTo move something through the air in a curve.B1~28%

“She swings her bag onto her shoulder and walks off.”

3nounseatA seat hung on ropes or chains for children to ride.A2~16%

“There is one swing left free at the far end of the park.”

4nounshiftA clear change from one opinion, mood or position to another.B2~50%

“The poll shows a swing towards the smaller parties.”

synonyms: shift

Shares are an estimate: a language model read 179 sentences found in the wild and placed 76 of them on a sense (103 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.