1. To go around the edge of something, or avoid dealing with it directly.
2. A garment or lower garment section that hangs from the waist around the legs.
3. A lower or outer part hanging down around a structure or object.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- skirt the issue
- skirt the town
On the page
The path skirts the quarry before turning toward the village.
Nearby words
Word forms
- Base
- skirt
- Past tense
- skirted
- Past participle
- skirted
- Present participle
- skirting
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- skirt
- Present continuous
- am/is/are skirting
- Present perfect
- have/has skirted
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been skirting
- Past
- skirted
- Past continuous
- was/were skirting
- Past perfect
- had skirted
- Past perfect continuous
- had been skirting
- Future
- will skirt
- Future continuous
- will be skirting
- Future perfect
- will have skirted
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been skirting
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: skirt; skirts; skirted; skirted; skirting. Noun singular skirt; plural skirts.. Noun singular skirt; plural skirts. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: moderately common. Third-person singular: skirts.
Practice this word in a sentenceYour margin notes
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