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View definitions for gliding

gliding

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Example Sentences

Pros: Getting to picture yourself gliding efficiently through town, perhaps en route to a snowy assignation.

The game consists of flooding the bathroom with water, hiking up your skirt, and then gliding over the stream.

But Tom Boswell makes it all look easy, gliding between the seasons with appreciation and acerbic wit.

The world economy is gliding past crises and the markets have got their mojo back.

Contestants in the Miss India pageant are gliding across a stage in Mumbai, eyes shining.

Practise gliding in the form of inflection, or slide, from one extreme of pitch to another.

Before Ripperda could unclasp his lips to reply, the stranger had opened the door, and passed through it like a gliding shadow.

But he kept his eyes upon the gliding river rather than on those dark hills crowded with their ancient dead.

As soon as Baroudi was perceived by the attendants, there was a soft and gliding movement to serve him.

He saw, at any rate, the figures close together, as if the man came gliding straight into her arms.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is another word for gliding?

The word gliding is the continuous (-ing) form of glide, and it can also be used as a modifier, as in gliding motion. 

Saying that something is gliding often means that it’s moving smoothly and often quickly over a surface, such as how an ice hockey puck travels over the ice.

Similar words are sliding and coasting. The word skating is sometimes used in reference to how ice skates skate over ice.

Gliding is also commonly used to mean a particular kind of flying. For example, when a bird is gliding, it’s said to be soaring (flying without flapping its wings). When it’s an aircraft (such as a glider) or something else, you could say it’s sailing through the air.

Sometimes, saying that something is gliding in the air—like a ghost, for example—means not that it’s flying or soaring but rather that it’s floating or hovering (often right above a surface).

Gliding is also sometimes used a bit more figuratively, such as to describe how a dancer moves across a stage. In this case, the movement isn’t gliding in the literal sense, but rather a graceful, fluid motion. Such movement could also be described as floating or, more fancily, lilting.

What is the opposite (antonym) of gliding?

Gliding refers to a smooth, continuous movement. The opposite is a jerky or stilted movement. Words that capture this are lurching and skittering.

How do you use gliding in a sentence?

Gliding is always used in the context of movement, but the exact type of movement varies, especially depending on where it happens and what’s doing the gliding.

Here are some examples of gliding in a sentence:

  • The surface is perfectly smooth—perfect for gliding.
  • The hovercraft looks as if it’s gliding on the water. 
  • She came gliding into the room as if carried by a cloud. 
  • The hawk, gliding on the thermal updraft, soared for several minutes without flapping.

 

From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

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