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backstroker

American  
[bak-stroh-ker] / ˈbækˌstroʊ kər /

noun

  1. a person who swims the backstroke, especially a member of a competitive swimming team who specializes in the backstroke.

Etymology

Origin of backstroker

backstroke + -er 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

I was looking forward to trying to score tickets to the swimming events for my wife, who was a competitive backstroker at University High in Irvine, and me.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 7, 2025

“It was an incredible eight days with this team,” veteran backstroker Ryan Murphy, one of Team USA’s captains in Budapest, told reporters.

From Washington Post • Jun. 25, 2022

Kira Toussaint is the rare Dutch backstroker and Arno Kamminga, another Dutch swimmer, races breaststroke.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 21, 2021

At Cal, he works with Olympic champion backstroker Ryan Murphy and veteran sprinter Nathan Adrian.

From Washington Times • Dec. 4, 2018

American backstroker Tyler Clary told a California newspaper that his U.S. teammate wasn’t putting in the laps.

From Slate • Aug. 5, 2012

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.