dive

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To dive is to go below or into something. For example, people might dive into the water when they are swimming.

• Swimmers dive into the water from the side of a pool. (This sentence is in the present tense.)
• My friend, George, is a very good diver.
• Sometimes George uses a diving board to dive into the water.
• Have you ever dived off of a diving board? (This question is in the present perfect tense.)
• The children dove into the water. (This sentence is in the past tense.)
• A submarine can dive very deeply below the surface of the water.
• Scuba diving is a popular activity in areas where the water is warm and clear. (The word "diving" is a gerund in this sentence.)

scuba diving

You can also dive under something for protection.

• When the alarm sounded, everyone dove for cover.

• Guests at a hotel dived under tables and chairs when they heard gunfire in the lobby.

You can also dive into something that you enjoy or need to do:

• Sherry is looking forward to diving into a novel she picked up at the library.
• I can’t wait to dive into this big dish of ice cream.
• Our accountant needs to dive into the numbers that we gave him to figure out how much of a profit we made last year.
• Don’t dive too deeply into someone else’s personal business.

When the word "dive" is used as a noun, it has a few different meanings.

• This place is a dive. (It’s not a very clean place.)
• Don’t go there. It’s a dive.
• Jeremy likes going to dive bars on the weekends.
• The bar we go to has a reputation for being a dive, but that’s why we like it.
• The basketball team took a dive. (take a dive = try to lose a competition)
• The fans noticed that the soccer team was taking a dive and started to boo.
• The boxer was paid over $50,000 to take a dive. (In sports that involve betting, sometimes competitors intentionally lose.)

Everyone knows this hotel is a dive.

Learn more new vocabulary words here.

March 4, 2018