swarm

¹ American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

noun

• swarms
  plural

1. a body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.

2. a body of bees settled together, as in a hive.

3. a great number of things or persons, especially in motion.

   Synonyms:

   mass, host, horde

4. Biology. a group or aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming cells or organisms.

5. Geology. a cluster of earthquakes or other geologic phenomena or features.

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verb (used without object)

1. to fly off together in a swarm, as bees.

2. to move about, along, forth, etc., in great numbers, as things or persons.

3. to congregate, hover, or occur in groups or multitudes; be exceedingly numerous, as in a place or area.

4. (of a place) to be thronged or overrun; abound or teem.

   The beach swarms with children on summer weekends.

5. Biology. to move or swim about in a swarm.

verb (used with object)

1. to swarm about, over, or in; throng; overrun.

2. to produce a swarm of.

swarm ² American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to climb by clasping with the legs and hands or arms and drawing oneself up; shin.

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swarm ¹ British  

/ swɔːm /

noun

1. a group of social insects, esp bees led by a queen, that has left the parent hive in order to start a new colony

2. a large mass of small animals, esp insects

3. a throng or mass, esp when moving or in turmoil

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verb

1. (intr) (of small animals, esp bees) to move in or form a swarm

2. (intr) to congregate, move about or proceed in large numbers

3. to overrun or be overrun (with)

   the house swarmed with rats

4. (tr) to cause to swarm

swarm ² British  

/ swɔːm /

verb

1. to climb (a ladder, etc) by gripping with the hands and feet

   the boys swarmed up the rigging

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Synonym Usage

See crowd ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• swarmer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• swarms
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of swarm¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English swearm; cognate with German Schwarm swarm, Old Norse svarmr “tumult”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of swarm²

First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain

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Explanation

A swarm is a good word for a large group of bees going on the attack — not good news. Like bees, any group of people or animals can be considered a swarm if they act together and quickly — even fiercely. On a hot day, when an ice-cream truck shows up, it's usually greeted by a swarm of hot, hungry kids. People at a concert can be a swarm — and people in the swarm can be hurt, because there's lots of pushing and shoving. When tickets for a popular movie go on sale, a swarm of people will swarm the theater. As you can see, swarm works as either a noun or verb, and people could teach bees a thing or two about swarming.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

swarm swarms

Thousands of fishing boats, trained to work as a shadowy militia when needed, swarm contested areas without warning.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

One was so dim that detecting it would be comparable to standing on Earth and spotting a small swarm of fireflies on the Moon.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

In one instance, a swarm of OpenAI agents accessed U.S. government websites over several months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

New York lawmakers mulled a bill Wednesday to regulate pedicabs, which swarm touristy areas like Times Square and Central Park and have drawn criticism for overcrowding, excessive noise and extortionate pricing.

From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026

The buzz of the orb lights sounded like a swarm of bees flying toward him.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

Australia is boosting its undersea warfare capability by equipping its Ghost Shark autonomous submarine with "swarms" of aerial drones and sea mines, its defence ministry said Monday.

From Barron's ● Oct. 19, 2026

The incidents have amplified calls to slow AI development, most notably from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who wrote last month that he feared swarms of agents "taking over the entire internet."

From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026

By forcing adversaries to burn through expensive interceptors, the incoming swarms can exhaust allied air defenses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

As the days went on, the smell worsened, drawing swarms of flies and rats to the neighborhood, where they pestered and sickened locals.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

Marie-Laure listens to the trees rustle; her blood swarms.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

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Related Words

• congregate
• crawl
• flock
• gather
• overrun
• stream
• teem
• throng

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