- past participle of swell.
swollen
Americanverb
adjective
-
tumid or enlarged by or as if by swelling
-
turgid or bombastic
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of swollen
First recorded in 1300–50, for the adjective
Explanation
When something's swollen, it's puffed up, rounded, and misshapen. If you've sprained your ankle, it's likely to be swollen and may look more like a grapefruit than the body part you know and love. When something swells up, it's swollen, and that can be anything from knees and glands to pregnant bellies. You can also use swollen more poetically: you can describe someone with a big ego as having a swollen head. A stormy ocean with big, angry waves is a swollen sea. And a state with out-of-control spending has a swollen budget, inflated by special projects and other expenses that there’s not enough money to pay for.
Vocabulary lists containing swollen
Beowulf vocabulary
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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List 9
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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.
Both of her arms, he said, are now "tremendously swollen".
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
The eye of the storm barreled over the peninsular fishing village of Las Barrancas, which was largely unreachable after a swollen river caused a highway bridge to collapse.
From Barron's ● Sep. 29, 2026
Increasing the sugar concentration in the solution surrounding the axons made the swollen regions smaller.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026
But traders add that there are a number of other factors pushing yields higher, such a solid labor market, swollen U.S. budget deficits and a deluge of tech-company debt issuance competing for investors’ cash.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 9, 2026
The skin under my jaw felt swollen and tender.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
