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

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

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

But I think Arsenal will swarm all over them.

From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026

She’s then dropped into the water, where the winged creatures swarm her once more.

From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026

A nuclear plant in northern France shut down three reactors after a swarm of jellyfish clogged pumps used to cool the units, energy group EDF said on Tuesday.

From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026

She endured heatwaves, storms, wildfires and a swarm of horseflies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 3, 2026

Another woman from the morning bioloaf group leans at the lake’s edge, observing the purple glow of a swarm of water butterflies where the pale floor normally would be.

From "The Last Cuentista" by Donna Barba Higuera

How the critters, which move in larger swarms than Singapore’s other cicada species, got to the island is unknown.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

It warned cyber-security professionals around the world they needed to adapt to the new normal of swarms of AI agents working at speed in strange and clumsy ways that might lead to more breaches.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Many have set up traps outside their homes, hanging sticky tape from trees and fences to trap the flies and reduce the size of the swarms.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 23, 2026

Instead, the researchers found evidence of a composite interior made up of horizontal layers crossed by swarms of vertical magma pathways.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Little gnats cloud round us in near invisible swarms and I keep having to bat ’em away.

From "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness

Related Words

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