swamp

American  

[swomp] / swɒmp /

noun

1. a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.

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verb (used with object)

1. to flood or drench with water or the like.

2. Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.

3. to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.

4. to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something.

   He swamped us with work.

5. to render helpless.

6. to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed byout ).

7. to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.

verb (used without object)

1. to fill with water and sink, as a boat.

2. to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.

3. to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.

swamp British  

/ swɒmp /

noun

1. 1. permanently waterlogged ground that is usually overgrown and sometimes partly forested Compare marsh

   2. ( as modifier )

      swamp fever

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verb

1. to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

2. nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water

3. to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers

   we have been swamped with applications

4. to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp

5. (tr) to render helpless

swamp Scientific  

/ swŏmp /

1. An area of low-lying wet or seasonally flooded land, often having trees and dense shrubs or thickets.

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Other Word Forms

• swampish
  adjective
• swampless
  adjective
• swampy
  adjective
• underswamp
  noun

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.

Example Sentences

Ben Hill Griffin still has his name on the University of Florida’s 90,000-person football palace, better known now as the Swamp.

From Slate • Apr. 20, 2026

Williams also testified that he recognized Spivey was a danger but didn’t ask Boyd to stop following him or not turn after him onto rural Camp Swamp Road.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026

He was driving with his wife on Camp Swamp Road when Spivey pulled to a halt ahead of him.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 21, 2025

He later formed the pioneering techno group The Grid, who achieved chart success with 1994's Swamp Thing.

From BBC • Oct. 23, 2025

Westley, still within the confines of the Fire Swamp, sank, beaten, to his knees.

From "The Princess Bride" by William Goldman

Related Words

• beset
• besiege
• drench
• drown
• engulf
• inundate
• overcrowd
• overflow
• overload
• saturate
• sink
• submerge
• wash