Illustration for Adjectives for Swimming: The Swimmer, the Stroke, the Water and the Feeling

Adjectives for Swimming: The Swimmer, the Stroke, the Water and the Feeling

ByNathan Cole

Good adjectives for swimming depend on what you are describing. For the swimmer: strong, confident, powerful, tireless, nervous, inexperienced. For the stroke: smooth, fluid, efficient, rhythmic, choppy, laboured. For the water: cool, icy, clear, murky, calm, choppy, chlorinated, salty. For the feeling: refreshing, invigorating, weightless, exhilarating, exhausting.

Below, each group has the words in real sentences, followed by words for the pool and open water, swimwear, verbs that do the work adjectives cannot, words that are easy to misuse, two model paragraphs (one for a race, one for a cold-water swim) and a practice set with answers.

Contents

Quick picker

You are describing… Try Example
a swimmer who makes it look easy effortless, smooth, graceful Her effortless front crawl barely broke the surface.
a swimmer who is struggling laboured, splashy, flailing His laboured breaststroke slowed to a crawl by the last length.
a fast racer explosive, powerful, quick off the blocks An explosive start gave him half a body length.
water you can see through clear, crystal-clear, glassy, transparent The lake was so clear we could see trout below us.
water you cannot see through murky, cloudy, silty, green The murky river hid the bottom after a foot.
cold water cool, chilly, bracing, icy, freezing The first dip in the bracing sea took my breath away.
rough water choppy, rough, wavy, swirling A choppy crossing made sighting the buoy difficult.
the feeling afterwards refreshed, invigorated, pleasantly tired, drained I came out invigorated and starving.

The swimmer

Meaning Adjectives Example
Ability strong, competent, confident, accomplished, gifted A strong swimmer can still get into trouble in a rip current.
Little ability weak, inexperienced, hesitant, nervous Nervous beginners keep one hand on the wall.
Stamina tireless, steady, durable, fit The tireless distance swimmer kept the same pace for two hours.
Speed fast, quick, explosive, sprint-fast She is quick over 50 metres but fades over 200.
Build broad-shouldered, long-limbed, lean, streamlined Long-limbed swimmers have a natural reach advantage.
Experience seasoned, veteran, novice, first-time A seasoned open-water swimmer checks the tide times first.
Attitude determined, focused, fearless, cautious A cautious swimmer stays inside the flags.

For a description that feels real, connect the adjective to something the swimmer does: “a nervous swimmer who counts every stroke” says more than “a very nervous swimmer”.

The stroke and technique

The four competitive strokes are freestyle (in practice, front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. Coaches and commentators describe how each one is performed with a fairly fixed set of words.

Quality Adjectives Example
Smooth and economical smooth, fluid, efficient, relaxed, long A long, relaxed stroke wastes less energy than a fast, short one.
Strong powerful, driving, strong Her powerful kick drove her through the final ten metres.
Regular rhythmic, steady, even, measured He settled into a steady rhythm, breathing every third stroke.
Poor choppy, splashy, ragged, laboured, scrappy As she tired, her butterfly turned choppy and ragged.
Body position flat, streamlined, high, low-hipped, sinking Sinking legs make the stroke heavy and slow.
Timing well-timed, late, rushed, early A rushed breath lifted his head and broke his line.
Style textbook, classic, unorthodox, distinctive His unorthodox, lopsided crawl still won the heat.

Note: freestyle in a race means the swimmer may use any stroke, but almost everyone chooses front crawl because it is the fastest. That is why the two words are often used as if they were the same.

The water

Aspect Adjectives Example
Temperature warm, tepid, lukewarm, cool, chilly, cold, bracing, icy, freezing The tepid training pool felt like bath water after the lake.
Clarity clear, crystal-clear, see-through, cloudy, murky, silty, peaty The peaty loch water was the colour of strong tea.
Movement still, calm, flat, glassy, rippling, choppy, rough, swirling At six in the morning the lake was flat and glassy.
Taste and smell salty, briny, chlorinated, chemical, fresh The briny water stung a cut on my knee.
Depth shallow, waist-deep, deep, bottomless-looking The waist-deep end is roped off for lessons.
Colour blue, turquoise, green, grey, steel-grey, dark Under the clouds the sea turned steel-grey.
Danger treacherous, fast-flowing, unpredictable Signs warn that the river is fast-flowing after rain.

A useful fact for describing pool smell: the strong “chlorine” smell of a busy indoor pool comes mostly from chloramines, compounds formed when chlorine reacts with sweat and other dirt from swimmers. So a sharp chemical smell is not a sign of a very clean pool. Words for that smell: sharp, chemical, stinging, eye-watering. More water words are on adjectives for water.

How swimming feels

Many searches ask how to describe swimming in writing. The strongest descriptions use the senses: temperature on the skin, sound under water, the weight that disappears, tiredness afterwards.

Moment Adjectives Example
Getting in shocking, breathtaking (literally), bracing, nervy The first plunge was so cold it was breathtaking in the literal sense.
In the water weightless, buoyant, free, peaceful, muffled Under water the world went muffled and blue.
Working hard burning, breathless, heavy-armed, gruelling By the tenth length my shoulders were burning.
Enjoyment refreshing, invigorating, exhilarating, joyful A swim in the sea before work is invigorating.
Fear panicky, out of one’s depth, disoriented When the fog came down I felt disoriented and panicky.
Afterwards tingling, pleasantly tired, glowing, ravenous, waterlogged We sat on the rocks, tingling and ravenous.

Out of one’s depth is both literal (the water is too deep to stand) and figurative (a situation is too difficult), which makes it useful in stories.

Pools, lakes and the sea

Place Adjectives Example
Pool indoor, outdoor, heated, Olympic-size, crowded, echoing, tiled The echoing indoor pool smelled sharply of chemicals.
Lido or open-air pool open-air, unheated, art deco, sunlit We queued for the open-air lido on the first hot Saturday.
Lake or river wild, reedy, peaty, cold, secluded A secluded bend in the river made a perfect swimming spot.
Sea calm, rough, choppy, tidal, rocky, sheltered The sheltered cove was calm even when the bay was rough.

An Olympic-size pool is 50 metres long; a “short-course” pool is 25 metres. For more place words, see adjectives for a pool and adjectives for the ocean.

Swimwear

For a swimsuit or swimming costume, describe the cut, the fabric, the colour and the fit:

  • Cut: one-piece, two-piece, high-necked, racerback, high-cut, long-sleeved: “a navy racerback one-piece”.
  • Fabric and finish: sleek, matt, shiny, ribbed, quick-drying, chlorine-resistant.
  • Colour and pattern: bright, neon, striped, floral, polka-dot, faded.
  • Fit: snug, close-fitting, supportive, baggy (usually of shorts), saggy (when old).

Example: “She wore a faded red one-piece, saggy at the straps after a summer of daily training.” British English says swimming costume, swimsuit or cozzie (informal); American English says swimsuit or bathing suit. Men’s options include trunks, board shorts and racing briefs.

Sounds of swimming

Sound is the sense writers forget. A pool, a lake and the sea all sound different, and the change when your ears go under is one of the most recognisable parts of swimming.

Source Adjectives and nouns Example
Under water muffled, hollow, booming, silent Under water the shouting became a hollow, far-off boom.
The swimmer splashing, slapping, gasping, rhythmic breathing All I could hear was my own rhythmic breathing and the slap of each hand.
The pool echoing, noisy, shrill (whistles, children) Shrill whistles echoed off the tiles during the school gala.
Open water lapping, sloshing, crashing, hushed Small waves lapped against the jetty while we changed.

One line of sound can set a scene faster than a paragraph of colour: “The lido was hushed except for the slap of one early swimmer’s arms.”

Verbs and adverbs that help

Swimming is movement, so verbs carry much of the description. A precise verb plus one adjective usually beats three adjectives.

Verb What it shows Example
glide smooth, effortless movement The swimmer glided through the water after each kick.
slice, cut through speed and clean entry Her hands sliced into the water without a splash.
plough through effort against resistance He ploughed through the waves towards the buoy.
paddle, potter slow, relaxed swimming or wading The children paddled in the shallows.
tread water stay upright in one place We trod water, waiting for the boat.
flounder, thrash struggle A tired swimmer floundered near the rocks.
float, drift no effort, carried by the water She floated on her back and watched the clouds.

Adverbs work too: smoothly, steadily, strongly, lazily, frantically. Remember that after the verb swim you need an adverb, not an adjective: “she swims well”, “he swam strongly”.

Words easy to misuse

Not this But this Why
He swims very good. He swims very well. / He is a very good swimmer. A verb needs an adverb; good describes the noun swimmer.
the lucid water the clear water Lucid describes clear thinking or writing, not water.
the overcast water the grey water under an overcast sky Overcast describes the sky.
a strenuous swimming style a strenuous session; a laboured style Strenuous describes the workout, not the technique.
synchronized swimming (for current events) artistic swimming The sport was officially renamed artistic swimming in 2017; the old name is still widely understood.
a breathtaking cold (meaning beautiful) a breathtaking view; a cold that takes your breath away Make clear whether you mean “beautiful” or “it literally stopped my breath”.
tepid (meaning cold) tepid = only slightly warm Tepid water is lukewarm, often disappointingly so.

Model paragraphs

A race. The gun went and Maya was first off the blocks, her dive long and flat. By the turn she had settled into a smooth, unhurried crawl that looked slower than it was. The swimmer in lane five was splashier and more frantic, and for thirty metres he held level, but in the final length her steady kick never faltered while his stroke grew short and ragged. She touched first by a body length, breathless and grinning.

A cold-water swim. The sea was steel-grey and bracing, the kind of cold that makes you gasp before you have even reached your knees. For the first minute every nerve complained. Then the shock faded, my breathing slowed, and the water felt almost silky. Ten minutes later I walked out tingling and pink, invigorated in a way no warm pool has ever managed.

Practice with answers

A. Choose the better word.

  1. At dawn the lake was (glassy / choppy), without a ripple.
  2. Her (laboured / effortless) stroke barely made a splash.
  3. After an hour in the sea we were (tingling / lucid) and hungry.
  4. The pool was only (tepid / icy), so the children stayed in for ages.
  5. He is a (strong / strongly) swimmer.
  6. She swims (strong / strongly).

B. Replace the vague word.

  1. The water was nice.
  2. He swam badly in the waves.
  3. Give two adjectives: The ______, ______ swimmer glided through the water.

Answers: 1 glassy; 2 effortless; 3 tingling; 4 tepid; 5 strong; 6 strongly; 7 for example “The water was cool and clear” or “The water was refreshing”; 8 for example “He floundered in the choppy waves”; 9 for example “The lean, confident swimmer” or “The tall, long-limbed swimmer”.

Quick answers

What are three words to describe swimming?

Refreshing, rhythmic and weightless cover the feeling, the movement and the sensation. For effort, try gruelling or exhausting.

How do you describe a good swimmer?

Strong, confident, smooth, efficient or accomplished, and say what proves it: “a strong swimmer who can do a mile without stopping”.

How do you describe swimming in a story?

Pick a moment (getting in, the middle, getting out), use one sense at a time (cold skin, muffled sound, the taste of salt) and let verbs like glide, plough and tread do the work.

What does “out of your depth” mean?

Literally, in water too deep to stand in; figuratively, in a situation too difficult for you.

What are good words for a swimmer gliding through the water?

Smooth, sleek, streamlined, effortless and graceful all fit: “The sleek, streamlined swimmer glided through the water.” Use the verb glide only when the swimmer is moving without visible effort, often just after a push-off or kick.

Is it “dived” or “dove”?

Both are correct past forms of dive. Dived is standard in British English; dove is common in American English.

For the basics of what adjectives are and how they work, see what is an adjective.

Checked against Merriam-Webster, the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Stylebook. Spotted an error? Tell us — see our editorial policy.

Nathan Cole writes the adjective guides and word lists on Grammar Simplified. Every guide he publishes is checked against Merriam-Webster for spelling and usage, the Chicago Manual of Style for punctuation, and the AP Stylebook where a convention is specific to web writing. Where a rule is genuinely disputed among those authorities, he says so in the guide rather than picking a side quietly. Corrections are welcome and get acted on — see the editorial policy.

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