swam
SWAM/swæm/
- 1Past tense of swim.
A pod of dolphins swam alongside the fishing boat for miles.
She swam against a strong current to reach the buoy.
Note
A vowel change does the work here, not an -ed ending: swim, swam, swum. Swam stands alone as the simple past (she swam the length of the pool), while swum follows the auxiliary (she had swum, they have swum). "Had swam" is the slip to avoid in careful writing. Every use of swim passes through this form, including the transitive ones: she swam the channel, he swam the backstroke.
swam is a form of swim
swim, verb: To move through water by propelling oneself with the arms, legs, or fins, without touching the bottom. Full entry
- Spelling
- swim → swam: irregular (no -ed)
Use it in a sentence
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