What does skydived mean?
Skydived is the past tense and past participle of skydive, the activity of jumping from an aircraft and descending under parachute. In a sentence such as “They skydived over the harbor,” it reports a completed act; in “She has skydived before,” it functions as a participle within the present perfect. The wording is standard in both British and American English, although “parachute jump” may sound more traditional in some British contexts. Skydiving carries strong associations with adventure, courage, height, and adrenaline, so the verb can lend a vivid sense of boldness to a report of an ordinary action. It is especially useful when the speaker needs to describe the activity itself rather than identify a participant: “skydiver” names the person, while “skydived” narrates what that person did. The compact compound also makes clear that the jump begins in the sky, even though the precise altitude, duration, and use of a parachute can vary greatly in actual practice. Because it is an inflected verb, skydived should not be confused with the noun skydiving, which names the sport or activity as a whole.
verbSkydived is the simple past tense and past participle of skydive, meaning to jump from an aircraft and descend by parachute.
- To jump from an aircraft and descend by parachute.
"After years of training, she skydived over the coast on her sixtieth birthday."
"They skydived over the harbor during the festival."
"She has skydived twice, but she still describes the first jump as terrifying."
Skydiving’s name is a transparent compound—a dive made from the sky—but parachute jumping itself is much older than the word.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of skydived
Skydived is the English past-tense and past-participle form of skydive, a compound made from sky and dive. The compound belongs to the modern vocabulary of parachute jumping and became established during the 20th century. Its formation follows the ordinary English pattern of adding -ed to a verb, while sky and dive remain the transparent lexical elements of the name.
Related word forms
How skydived is actually used
Standard in general British and American English. It is the simple past tense and past participle of skydive, with skydiving as the present participle. The verb often carries an adventurous, recreational, or mildly figurative connotation.
Easily confused with skydived
Skydiver names a person who performs skydiving, whereas skydived is the past-tense or past-participle verb describing the action.