swallow
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to take into the stomach by drawing through the throat and esophagus with a voluntary muscular action, as food, drink, or other substances.
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to take in so as to envelop; withdraw from sight; assimilate or absorb.
He was swallowed by the crowd.
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to accept without question or suspicion; believe; trust.
- Antonyms:
- discredit, disbelieve
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to accept without opposition; put up with.
to swallow an insult.
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to accept for lack of an alternative.
Consumers will have to swallow new price hikes.
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to suppress (emotion, a laugh, a sob, etc.) as if by drawing it down one's throat.
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to take back; retract.
to swallow one's words.
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to enunciate poorly; mutter.
He swallowed his words.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the act or an instance of swallowing.
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a quantity swallowed at one time; a mouthful.
Take one swallow of brandy.
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capacity for swallowing.
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Also called crown, throat. Nautical, Machinery. the space in a block, between the groove of the sheave and the shell, through which the rope runs.
noun
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any of numerous small, long-winged passerine birds of the family Hirundinidae, noted for their swift, graceful flight and for the extent and regularity of their migrations.
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any of several unrelated, swallowlike birds, as the chimney swift.
verb
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to pass (food, drink, etc) through the mouth to the stomach by means of the muscular action of the oesophagus
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(often foll by up) to engulf or destroy as if by ingestion
Nazi Germany swallowed up several small countries
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informal to believe gullibly
he will never swallow such an excuse
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to refrain from uttering or manifesting
to swallow one's disappointment
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to endure without retaliation
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to enunciate (words, etc) indistinctly; mutter
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(often foll by down) to eat or drink reluctantly
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(intr) to perform or simulate the act of swallowing, as in gulping
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to retract a statement, argument, etc, often in humiliating circumstances
noun
noun
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any passerine songbird of the family Hirundinidae, esp Hirundo rustica ( common or barn swallow ), having long pointed wings, a forked tail, short legs, and a rapid flight
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See fairy swallow
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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swallowernoun
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swallow-likeadjective
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swallowableadjective
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unswallowableadjective
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unswallowedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swallowsimple
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swallowssimple
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have swallowedperfect
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has swallowedperfect
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am swallowingprogressive
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are swallowingprogressive
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is swallowingprogressive
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have been swallowingperfect progressive
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has been swallowingperfect progressive
Past
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swallowedsimple
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had swallowedperfect
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was swallowingprogressive
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were swallowingprogressive
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had been swallowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swallow1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English verb swolwen, swalwen, Old English swelgan; cognate with German schwelgen; akin to Old Norse svelgja; Middle English noun swolwe, swoluh, Old English geswelgh “throat, abyss, whirlpool”; akin to Middle Low German swelch, Old High German swelgo “glutton,” Old Norse svelgr “swirl, whirlpool; devourer”
Origin of swallow2
First recorded before 900; Middle English swal(e)we, Old English sweal(e)we; cognate with German Schwalbe, Old Norse svala
Explanation
When you swallow food or liquid is pushed from your mouth to the esophagus. Chew your food well before you swallow it. As a verb, swallow means "to enclose or envelop completely," like quicksand that swallows everything that falls into it. Swallow can also mean "to stop from expressing," like when you swallow your pride and ask for help. The noun swallow describes a gulp, though you don't always do it for digestion; sometimes a few swallows of air help you keep from crying. A swallow is also a type of small songbird.
Vocabulary lists containing swallow
The SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words, List 2
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The New SAT: Multiple-Meaning Words
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Unit 2: Pivotal Words and Phrases
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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:
Ten-year-old Francesca has a persistent cough and struggles to swallow.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
It’s a lot to swallow, so why not cut to the sea chase?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
If you are not careful, it will swallow you whole.
From Salon ● Jun. 17, 2026
That could be a difficult pill to swallow for investors amid the current AI backdrop and the pressure by AI on software stocks.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
I swallow hard, thinking of Hattie and her perfect ballerina feet.
From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day
Every bit counts when health insurance swallows up so much of the budget.
From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026
"In most of those cases, what happens is the supermarket swallows those losses. And that impacts their margins," she says.
From BBC ● May 24, 2026
"Simply put, it swallows up matter and influences how stars in nearby galaxies grow."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 30, 2026
Threatened with eviction by his fed-up family unless he takes an open slot teaching poetry at a high school, Oscar swallows his pride and takes the gig.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 30, 2026
Her jaws can barely move to chew, but she does it and swallows, then looks at me for more.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
“It’s like this that humanism itself gets swallowed up by nihilism,” he adds, concretizing that image in his movie with many scenes of environmental degradation realized as crawling blobs of death.
From Salon ● Jul. 22, 2026
TOI-5882 has not yet expanded enough for its size alone to explain how it could have swallowed a planet.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
He tried calling the neighbor he had last seen before being swallowed by the earth, "but nothing."
From Barron's ● Jul. 5, 2026
The other seems to have been swallowed by the earth.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
I shake my head, not because I’m not okay, but in frustration that I swallowed so many of his lies without question.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
The laryngeal nerve also connects the brain and larynx, helping control speech and swallowing.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
Ms. Arno’s postwar chapters are strongest when they keep catastrophe from swallowing the rest of the life.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
He thinks both were overlooked brands that made them more attainable for the Chinese companies, as opposed to swallowing a bigger U.S. consumer company.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
It “often begins with muscle twitching and weakness in an arm or leg, trouble swallowing, or slurred speech,” the clinic said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
He coughed and sputtered, swallowing large gulps of river water.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
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.
