How to Use somersault in a Sentence

somersault

noun
  • The gymnast turned a somersault.
  • Lessard secured his win on his last dive, a back somersault with a full twist.
    — Randy McRoberts, Baltimore Sun, 8 Aug. 2022
  • All of the divers added a double back somersault tuck to their dive list this year.
    — Ramona Sentinel, 9 May 2017
  • His head tore away, pulling his body into a somersault and flipping him on his back.
    — Azad Cudi, Harper's magazine, 10 Jan. 2019
  • Suddenly, the big black wolf tripped over brush and rolled in a somersault.
    — Ben Huberman, Longreads, 4 Nov. 2017
  • There were a couple of times when goal scorers did somersaults.
    — Andrew Beaton, WSJ, 13 July 2018
  • Near the end of her second somersault, Biles opens her tuck a little.
    — Adam Rogers, WIRED, 13 Aug. 2019
  • Instead she was pushed backward into the deep end and learned not just to swim but to do somersaults.
    — Helena Andrews-Dyer, Washington Post, 8 Mar. 2024
  • Klein closes out the track with a backward somersault, guitar in hand.
    — Billboard Staff, Billboard, 3 June 2018
  • Graham hops onto the couch, does a somersault, lands on her back, flips over and crawls off the sofa.
    — Zizi Strater, Peoplemag, 11 Apr. 2023
  • The move involves two twists and two somersaults while dismounting.
    — Hollie Silverman, CNN, 12 Aug. 2019
  • Now imagine, having to do that while your brain was turning somersaults until your head ached.
    — Michael Harriot, The Root, 27 July 2017
  • The key to her win came on her next-to-last dive, an inward 1½ somersault from the pike position.
    — Don Norcross, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 May 2023
  • Nearby, a group of younger kids kicked a soccer ball while the more limber showed off their somersault or spider walk skills.
    — Arkansas Online, 7 July 2021
  • Anxious to meet the person doing somersaults inside me all night.
    — Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 24 Sep. 2024
  • Anxious to meet the person doing somersaults inside me all night.
    — Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 7 June 2024
  • Also swept into this somersault was the kitchen, which had been situated by the front door.
    — Celia Barbour, ELLE Decor, 23 May 2017
  • The first involves various crawls that warm up the muscles and might even include somersaults and frog hops.
    — Jen Murphy, WSJ, 23 Sep. 2017
  • By the end of the afternoon, there are foot races and backflips and somersaults and handstand contests.
    — Bronwen Dickey, Popular Mechanics, 14 Mar. 2018
  • The somersaults seem to be a byproduct of the dragonfly flicking its tail to get rid of excess water.
    — Byelizabeth Pennisi, science.org, 13 Jan. 2025
  • That surprised him, given his season track record and a bad landing on a somersault catch in last week’s Bills loss.
    — Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 5 Dec. 2019
  • The video shows the bear doing somersaults and backflips in a patch of snow and later wrestling with a giant snowball on the slope of a hill.
    — Brooke Baitinger, Sacbee.com, 7 May 2025
  • Sixty-nine-year-old Bobbe, floating in the middle of the fuselage, curls up and tries a somersault.
    — Charles Fishman, Smithsonian, 25 May 2017
  • Within seconds the soldier fell, the metal collapsing as the statute did a somersault against the stone pedestal.
    — Margaret Hartmann, Daily Intelligencer, 15 Aug. 2017
  • Pare somersaults over the offensive line for the conversion.
    — Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 6 Sep. 2025
  • Here’s a comprehensive guide to stunt crafts, high-flying somersaults, prices and parking.
    — Phillip Valys, Sun Sentinel, 2 May 2026
  • The triple quad is a combination of a back 3 somersaults, with 4 twists in the free position.
    — Gary Curreri, sun-sentinel.com, 30 Aug. 2019
  • The Biles on the vault is a round-off, into a back hand-spring with a half turn, completing the move by twisting twice in a somersault.
    — Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 22 July 2024
  • Vásquez took just nine pitches to get through the first inning and 14 pitches — plus a throw home and a somersault – to get through the second.
    — Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 May 2025
  • Moses converted — and marked the goal with a somersault — to put Nigeria back in control of the race for second place in the group.
    — Steve Douglas, chicagotribune.com, 26 June 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'somersault.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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