swamp
Americannoun
-
swamps
plural
verb (used with object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
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swamping
present participle
-
to flood or drench with water or the like.
-
Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
-
to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
-
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 ).
-
to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.
verb (used without object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
-
swamping
present participle
-
to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
-
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
-
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
-
(tr) to render helpless
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
swampsimple
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swampssimple
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have swampedperfect
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has swampedperfect
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am swampingprogressive
-
are swampingprogressive
-
is swampingprogressive
-
have been swampingperfect progressive
-
has been swampingperfect progressive
Past
-
swampedsimple
-
had swampedperfect
-
was swampingprogressive
-
were swampingprogressive
-
had been swampingperfect progressive
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.
See Examples For:
The remains came from both native and introduced animals, including cows, kangaroos, emus, sheep, pigs, dingoes, rabbits, possums, quolls and swamp rats.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Even tiny gains from AI produce social benefits that swamp a $900 billion investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
But staff members have had to make do with indoor swamp coolers and fans, said Darlene Lopez, the manager at the animal hospital, in an interview with The Times.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
"In the afternoon it becomes really intolerable, because this is reclaimed swamp," he said, nodding to Washington's geography.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Lenny’s trailer, on the other hand, is the opposite of a swamp.
From "The Benefits of Being an Octopus" by Ann Braden
The world-renowned site features iron carbonate concretions that formed some 309 million years ago, fossilizing within them ancient creatures that had once thrived in the area's lush swamps, shallow seas and river deltas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
Philip is a harvester of periwinkles, but says the sea snails - a delicacy in the Niger Delta - are hard to come by these days in the mangroves and swamps.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
If you’re new to her work, here is where to start with Groff’s sprawling canon, which spans from steamy Florida swamps to medieval abbeys with a gift for the unexpected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
The NFL swamps all rival sports leagues in America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
When it rains, the flat lands fill with standing water and our villages become like swamps.
From "Lost Boy, Lost Girl" by John Bul Dau
Recruiters and HR offices are swamped with applications that people churn out with job-search platforms and AI agents.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
The losses swamped the pickup in yields, leading to total-return losses.
From Barron's ● May 21, 2026
The emergence of new fiscal concerns abroad has also revived perennial anxieties that the world is becoming swamped with bonds—thanks in large part to massive borrowing by the U.S. government.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
As a result, the city has been swamped with a mounting backlog of streetlight repairs — more than 33,000.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
A fresh wave of well-wishers and glad-handers swamped Professor Blackbridge, pushing Farooqi farther and farther away.
From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein
It is swamping the effects of tariffs and the war with Iran, events that would ordinarily be Category 5 storms in their own right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
With more than a billion internet users, India is grappling with AI-generated disinformation swamping social media.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
Pictures show the deep flood waters swamping bridges and fast moving water swirling down roads.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
The worst flu season in years is swamping California, prompting a renewed surge in hospitalizations as officials warn the disease could continue circulating at high levels for weeks to come.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2025
Poor Mohammed, he thought, all his brothers and sisters swamping him.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
