dwell
Americanverb (used without object)
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dwells,
present (3rd person singular)
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dwelt,
past participle, past
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dwelled,
past participle, past
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dwelling
present participle
-
to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside.
-
to live or continue in a given condition or state.
to dwell in happiness.
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to linger over, emphasize, or ponder in thought, speech, or writing (often followed by on orupon ).
to dwell on a particular point in an argument.
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(of a moving tool or machine part) to be motionless for a certain interval during operation.
noun
verb
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formal to live as a permanent resident
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to live (in a specified state)
to dwell in poverty
noun
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a regular pause in the operation of a machine
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a flat or constant-radius portion on a linear or rotary cam enabling the cam follower to remain static for a brief time
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dwellsimple
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dwellssimple
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have dwelledperfect
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have dweltperfect
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has dwelledperfect
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has dweltperfect
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am dwellingprogressive
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are dwellingprogressive
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is dwellingprogressive
-
have been dwellingperfect progressive
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has been dwellingperfect progressive
Past
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dwelledsimple
-
dweltsimple
-
had dwelledperfect
-
had dweltperfect
-
was dwellingprogressive
-
were dwellingprogressive
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had been dwellingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dwell
First recorded before 900; Middle English dwellen “to lead astray; stun; abide,” Old English dwellan “to lead or go astray; hinder”; cognate with Old Norse dvelja
Explanation
To dwell in a home is to live in it. To dwell on something — usually something bad, like a failed romance or terrible service in a restaurant — is to think or speak about it at great length. Dwell has been part of the English language for over 1,000 years. The definition of the word has evolved considerably since its first recorded use in the 9th century when Old English dwellan meant "lead astray" or "hinder." If you constantly dwell on the bad things in life, it could hinder you from seeing the good or lead you astray to the negative. If you keep complaining, your friends might tell you to stop dwelling on it or, if they're really annoyed, they'll say, "Get over it!"
Vocabulary lists containing dwell
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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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:
But it does show that negative dwell time is not an artifact.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Crucially, the negative value of the weakly measured dwell time cannot be explained by imagining that only the front of the photon’s pulse gets through, unlike the time inferred from the arrival time.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
I didn’t dwell on it at the time because I think such visits are kind of ho-hum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
While the former Real Madrid manager has been keen not to dwell on last season's shortcomings, his coaching at Cobham suggests he has been paying close attention to them.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
But I didn’t dwell on them with pain or with fear.
From "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant
He never dwells on errors, he just kicks on.
From BBC ● Mar. 5, 2026
A 1772 meditation about the crucifixion by a man who struggled with depression all his life, the hymn dwells on Christ’s gory death and evokes the metaphor of sinners bathing in blood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026
But “Influencers” both dwells in and demolishes an online, text-happy, selfie-saturated world, one that thrives on misinformation and FOMO-mongering and drives CW more than a little crazy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
The deep-sea is still largely unexplored and biodiversity surveys of these habitats are vital to increase our understanding of the incredible marine life that dwells in the depths of our oceans.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2025
She sent one of them in her car to the bleak region where Famine dwells to order her to take possession of Erysichthon.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
“The God who once dwelled among His people in this city still calls us in the words of Scripture,” the president said in a speech at Israel’s parliament in October.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 21, 2025
Vance’s most heated points about gender dwelled not on hormones but on LGBTQ+ issues.
From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2024
England fans dwelled on the agonising near misses in the knockout stages of major tournaments - Diego Maradona's handball in 1986, losses on penalties to Germany in 1990 and 1996.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2024
On Saturday, the group’s president, David McIntosh, sat in the front row of a Trump rally in Conway, S.C., a detail that the former president repeatedly dwelled on for his audience.
From New York Times ● Feb. 16, 2024
As before, I felt excited that I would finally meet the spirit that dwelled within.
From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis
Not only can their arrival time suggest that they dwelt with other particles for a negative amount of time, but if one asks those other particles, they will corroborate the story.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
While Roberts’s report dwelt mostly on historical anecdotes, it contained one concrete sign of the impact of Trump’s signature issue: immigration enforcement.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
That song opened Friday night's encore, which dwelt largely on their 90s material, including Let Down - a deep cut that's had a new lease of life on TikTok - and the epic Paranoid Android.
From BBC ● Nov. 21, 2025
Television pioneer Norman Lear, who died this month at the age of 101, told me three years ago that he dwelt not on what he’d done but on what he wanted to do next.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2023
His quizzical blue eyes dwelt on her brown arms so deliberately that she closed hei fists to hide the calluses on her palms.
From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare
Three years later, he offered the four-bedroom dwelling up for rent—with an asking price of $75,000 a month.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
The decline in dwelling prices has gathered momentum in recent months as interest rates have risen, while a decision make tax arrangements less attractive for property investors has also weighed on the market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The Canal and River Trust says that, post-Covid, our waterways have increasingly become "places of dwelling".
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
If we were to make a precise measurement of whether the photon is dwelling in the atoms, at each instant of time, we would prevent the atoms from interacting with the photon.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
I realize that for the first time since I have come to St. Emilion, I am not dwelling in the past but anticipating, without dread, the future.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
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.
