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• swat
  swat

  verb (used with object)

  to hit; slap; smack.
• Swat
  Swat

  noun

  a former princely state in NW India: now a part of Pakistan.
• SWAT
  SWAT

  noun

  a special section of some law enforcement agencies trained and equipped to deal with especially dangerous or violent situations, as when hostages are being held (often used attributively).

swat

¹ American  

[swot] / swɒt /

Or swot

verb (used with object)

swatted, swatting

1. to hit; slap; smack.

2. Baseball. to hit (a ball) powerfully, usually for a long distance.

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noun

• swats
  plural

1. a smart blow; slap; smack.

2. Baseball. a powerfully hit ball.

swat ² American  

[swot] / swɒt /

verb

Dialect.

1. simple past tense and past participle of sweat.

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swat ³ American  

[swot] / swɒt /

verb (used without object)

swatted, swatting

1. swot.

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Swat ⁴ American  

[swaht] / swɑt /

noun

1. a former princely state in NW India: now a part of Pakistan.

2. Also a Muslim inhabitant of Swat.

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SWAT ⁵ American  

[swot] / swɒt /

Or S.W.A.T.

noun

1. a special section of some law enforcement agencies trained and equipped to deal with especially dangerous or violent situations, as when hostages are being held (often used attributively).

   a SWAT team.

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verb (used with or without object)

swatted, SWATted, swatting, SWATting

1. Usually swat to cause a SWAT team to be deployed on (an unsuspecting victim, especially a public figure or someone prominent on social media) by falsifying a threat, often as a punishment or retaliation.

   His plan was to swat other gamers during their streaming broadcasts so everyone would see it happen.

   The film’s director was swatted when the sequel disappointed fans.

swat ¹ British  

/ swɒt /

verb

1. to strike or hit sharply

   to swat a fly

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noun

1. another word (esp Brit) for swatter

2. a sharp or violent blow

Swat ² British  

/ swɒt /

noun

1. a former princely state of NW India: passed to Pakistan in 1947

2. a river in Pakistan, rising in the north and flowing south to the Kabul River north of Peshawar. Length: about 640 km (400 miles)

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SWAT ³ British  

/ swɒt /

acronym

1. Special Weapons and Tactics: a military-like unit within the US police force, trained to deal with specially dangerous situations, such as hostage-taking and riots

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swat ⁴ British  

/ swɒt /

verb

1. a variant of swot 1

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• swats
  plural

Etymology

Origin of swat¹

First recorded in 1615–25; originally variant of squat

Origin of SWAT⁵

First recorded in 1965–70; acronym from S(pecial) W(eapons) a(nd) T(actics)

Explanation

To swat is to hit or bat at something. You might try to swat a fly with a rolled-up magazine and then watch your cat swat at it with her paws. Someone who's attacked by a swarm of wasps will swat at them as they run away, and a kid who's annoyed at her sister might swat her, too. The smack itself is also called a swat. Experts suspect that swat is an alteration of the Middle English swap, "to strike," which mimics the sound of a sharp blow.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

swat Swat SWAT swats swatted swatting

He whiffed and, as his belly careened iceward, made a desperate swat at the puck that lifted it over the glove of the Vegas goalie to give the Hurricanes a lead they’d never relinquish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 13, 2026

"The real fighting match is about to begin, and Mr Carney is going to have to swat away or figure out how to handle the punches that will be coming at him," said Ms Surkes.

From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2025

Even House Rep. Chip Roy, an otherwise-reliable conspiracist, took to social media to swat down this feel-good hoax.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2025

Even as Washington turns away to return to his “Highest 2 Lowest” team, the photographer grabs the star by his forearm again, prompting him to swat it away.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2025

I tried to swat them away from the tangles of gold all over the floor, but they shrieked and bit me.

From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff

Jason Skog recalled seeing a large police and Swat presence in his neighbourhood.

From BBC ● Feb. 19, 2024

Some 50 charlifts dot the hillsides of nearby Swat Valley.

From Reuters ● Aug. 26, 2023

The Swat Valley was the stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, until 2019 when security forces cleared the region of militants after military operations.

From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023

Swat is also home to Malala Yousafzai, an activist for girls’ education in the region who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012.

From New York Times ● Apr. 25, 2023

In the cafes, we saw men and women chatting and mixing in a way that would be unimaginable in Swat.

From "Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Changed the World" by Malala Yousafzai

"SWAT team, bomb squad, K9 team, gang unit, negotiators, drone team. Every single asset we have to bring this to the safest conclusion is out here right now," he continued.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026

The sheriff's office added that the gunman's home in Anaconda had been searched, and "cleared by SWAT" teams.

From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2025

He said it seemed like most of the defense witnesses “weren’t giving out a lot of information,” while Colomey had offered a compelling narrative about his efforts to fix the problems he saw at SWAT.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

In his opening arguments, Colomey’s attorney Greg Smith said that police leaders sought at all costs to protect the image of SWAT, which he called “the crown jewel of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2024

Mr. McCraw excoriated Mr. Arredondo for letting injured children and teachers languish while waiting for SWAT, protective equipment and keys.

From New York Times ● Oct. 12, 2022

San Antonio superstar Victor Wembanyama swats away more shots than anyone in the league.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

What’s next, a robotic baseball player named Babe that swats 500-foot home runs and throws 120 mph pitches, eclipsing Shohei Ohtani’s real-life achievements and commanding a billion dollar contract?

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 23, 2026

Jennie could be your cool older sister, all dark sunglasses and leather jackets, as she swats away her choreography like a pesky house fly.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2025

Boone’s six swats matched a career high and forward Tyreek Smith matched his career best with three.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 7, 2023

I knowed the reason why Mr. Travis went and made us write all them lines and passed out all them swats, it was ’cause he was trying to make the “familiarity breeds contempt” lesson stick.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis

A failed fourth-down attempt for USC would all but end it, as Maiava’s desperation pass was swatted away, along with the Trojans’ hopes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

The boy, who was not named in the report, swatted the bat off his face, after which his father caught the winged mammal in a pot and released it outside.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

French-American land forces converged on an entrenched British army in southeastern Virginia, as a French fleet swatted away a royal navy relief squadron and sealed off the Chesapeake Bay escape route.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026

Azusa resident Constance Yu described the persistent bugs as “like little demons but tiny,” while she swatted away the critters during an interview with CBS News this week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026

Capricorn had obviously swatted fairies as carelessly as other people swat flies.

From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke

One cannot walk through the area, which is mostly a warehouse district surrounded by homes, without swatting away countless flies, both big and small, including black, blue and green ones.

From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026

With residents already scratching and swatting, it took only a couple of charismatic entomologists to win over the right politicians to move legislation forward.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

As in both earlier games in this series, the Thunder treated a Lakers lead like a pesky gnat, swatting it away with a casual flick as if it never existed.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2026

That’s because his secret superpower isn’t swatting away shots.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026

I see monkeys swatting at the sails, cats lounging on the bow, and a four-armed gorilla sweeping the deck.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

Related Words

• clobber
• knock
• slap
• slug
• smack
• smash
• whack