skydive

skydive — verb

1. to jump from an aircraft and fall freely through the air, often performing turns

1.verbintransitiveB2
Definition

to jump from an aircraft and fall freely through the air, often performing turns or other moves, before opening a parachute to slow the descent.

Example

Ezra plans to skydive with an instructor from a small plane near the coast next weekend.

Before skydiving, Bilal checked his parachute and listened to the instructor's safety advice.

collocation: check parachute before skydiving

Synonyms
  • parachute

    Refers to descending under an open parachute, typically without the extended free-fall; less focused on acrobatic maneuvers

  • BASE jump

    A more extreme form of jumping from fixed objects (buildings, cliffs) rather than an aircraft; much higher risk and not the same sport

Grammar Patterns

skydive (no object)

go skydiving

Usage Note

The more common way to express this activity is with the pattern 'go skydiving' (e.g., 'They went skydiving on holiday'). The bare verb form 'skydive' is less frequent and often appears in planning or reported contexts.

Common Mistakes

I want to sky dive this weekend.
I want to skydive this weekend.
The verb is written as one word, not two.
I skydived and opened my parachute immediately.
I skydived for about thirty seconds before opening my parachute.
The free-fall period before the parachute opens is the defining feature of skydiving.

Word family

  • skydiver
    nounB2
  • skydiving
    nounB2
  • skydiving
    adjectiveB2

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All three words describe falling from a height with a parachute, but they differ in scope and emphasis. 'Skydive' specifically means jumping from an aircraft and experiencing a free-fall period — often with turns, flips, or formations — before opening the parachute. 'Parachute' as a verb focuses on the descent under an already-open canopy; it can refer to emergency jumps or military drops where free-fall is brief or absent. 'BASE jump' is a specialized extreme sport where the jumper leaps from a fixed object (building, antenna, span, earth) rather than an aircraft, with a much shorter free-fall and higher danger. A beginner might say 'I want to go skydiving for my birthday,' but would not say 'I want to BASE jump tomorrow' without months of specialized training.

skydive ↗parachute ↗BASE jump

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • go skydiving
  • skydive from a plane
  • skydive over [location]

Etymology

English

A fairly recent compound formed from 'sky' (the upper atmosphere) + 'dive' (to plunge headfirst into or through something). The word emerged in the mid-20th century, around the 1960s, as the sport of recreational free-fall parachuting gained popularity and needed a distinct label that separated it from routine military or emergency parachuting.