A swoosh is the soft, rushing sound of something moving quickly through the air. You hear a swoosh when a basketball sails through the hoop without touching the rim, when your friend zooms past you on a bike, or when you swing a stick fast enough to hear it cut through the air.

The word captures both the sound and the feeling of swift, smooth motion. A superhero's cape makes a swoosh as they fly past. An arrow swooshes toward its target. When you open curtains quickly, they swoosh along the rod.

Swoosh is an example of onomatopoeia, meaning it sounds like what it describes. Say it out loud: the “sw” and “oosh” together mimic that airy, rushing sound. The word suggests speed combined with smoothness, something moving fast but gracefully, not clumsily crashing around.

As a verb, to swoosh means to move with that characteristic sound: “The hockey puck swooshed across the ice.” The word makes writing more vivid because readers can almost hear what's happening in the scene.