swamp
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to flood or drench with water or the like.
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Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
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to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
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to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something.
He swamped us with work.
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to render helpless.
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to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed byout ).
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to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.
verb (used without object)
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to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
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to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.
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to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.
noun
verb
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to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
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nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water
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to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers
we have been swamped with applications
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to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp
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(tr) to render helpless
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have swampedperfect
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has swampedperfect 3rd person singular
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have been swampingperfect progressive
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are swampingprogressive
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am swampingprogressive 1st person singular
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has been swampingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is swampingprogressive 3rd person singular
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swampssingular 3rd person
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swampingparticiple
Past
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had swampedperfect
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had been swampingperfect progressive
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was swampingprogressive singular
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were swampingprogressive plural
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swampedparticiple
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swampedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of swamp
First recorded in 1615–25; from Dutch zwamp “creek, fen”; akin to sump and to Middle Low German swamp, Old Norse svǫppr “sponge”
Explanation
A swamp is an area that floods every year because the land is low. Watch out for alligators if you visit Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, the largest swamp in the United States. Anyone who has spent time in a busy restaurant kitchen has heard harried chefs cry, "I'm in the weeds!" Such people are in a different kind of swamp — the challenging environment in which too many things need to be done in too short a time. Another way of saying this is, "I'm swamped." Here swamp is a verb that describes being stuck in a seemingly endless situation — you feel like you're stuck in the squishy mud of a real swamp.
Vocabulary lists containing swamp
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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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.
Mr. Urban has natural swagger and he’s the best aspect here, although that’s like singling out the most fragrant part of a swamp.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
It should have been called swamp or something like that…trench.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2026
The difference is a matter of a few hundred bucks, and what you pay in capital gains taxes is likely to swamp any tiny performance advantage.
From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026
Troops found the submarine in a mangrove swamp in the Cayapas–Mataje nature reserve.
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
But a sullen mood hung over the ship, like an evil mist over a swamp.
From "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" by Jean Lee Latham
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.
