Meanings
- idiomaticActively participating in the flow of events; very involved.
But "he's right there in the center of things, in the swim of art history."
2001 December 23, Ted Loos, “A Flashy Museum Gives a Quiet Painter a New Look”, in New York Times, retrieved 22 Jun 20092 more examples
He had very little money, but he was lucky at cards, made many acquaintances, took part in all entertainments, in a word, he was in the swim.
1894, Ivan Turgenev, chapter 8, in Constance Garnett, transl., A House of Gentlefolk, published 1859These punctual jaunts, very sensibly practised as a purge against dullness, together with the stir and hubbub of a garrison town in which his walled garden stood isolated, as it were, all day long, amid marchings, countermarchings, bugle-calls, and the rumble of wagons filled with material of war, gave him a sense of being in the swim—of close participation in the world's affairs.
1903, Arthur Quiller-Couch, chapter 12, in The Mayor of Troy
Translations
French dans le courant, dans le vent
- dans le courantactively participating in the flow of events
- dans le ventactively participating in the flow of events
Spanish en la movida, en la brecha
- en la movidaactively participating in the flow of events
- en la brechaactively participating in the flow of events
Cite this entry
in the swim. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20swim
“in the swim.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20swim. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “in the swim,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/in%20the%20swim.
Source: in the swim on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.