slew
1 Americanverb
noun
-
slews
plural
verb
-
to twist or be twisted sideways, esp awkwardly
he slewed around in his chair
-
nautical to cause (a mast) to rotate in its step or (of a mast) to rotate in its step
noun
verb
noun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of slew
1830–40, < Irish sluagh crowd, throng, army, host
Explanation
Of all the many nouns referring to a large group of things, one of the most fun is slew, as in "I saw a whole slew of birds in the tree by the river." American English is constantly evolving, its richness coming from the many languages feeding into it. The noun slew, for instance, is from the Irish Gaelic sluagh, meaning "multitude." As an unrelated verb, it's the past tense of slay.
Vocabulary lists containing slew
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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St. Patrick's Day Vocabulary: Words With Irish and Gaelic Roots
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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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:
Thousands of locals, including activists and former lawmakers, have left in recent years, as tough new security laws have led to a slew of arrests and convictions.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Being the kind of person who adorns themselves compulsively opens you up to a slew of corny metaphors that, against your will, feel deeply relevant to you.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Stock futures moved higher amid a rally across global stock markets and a slew of corporate earnings.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026
The United States announced a slew of sanctions last month targeting more than 50 Mexican individuals and entities allegedly with ties to CJNG.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
My intestines are all bundled up inside of me, and a slew of thoughts run through my head.
From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles
For manager Brian Epstein, the very notion of the Beatles performing in any venue with slews of empty seats was a non-starter.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2025
We link up a bunch of visits that are close together in the sky to avoid doing big, time-consuming slews.
From Scientific American ● Jul. 11, 2022
It can also jump more whole heartedly into plans, say by hiring slews of new workers to transform it, without having to explain the jump in expenses to shareholders in its next quarterly report.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
There remains No. 1 Naomi Osaka, the defending champion who romped through Williams here last year in a noisy final, but the rest of the field lacks for slews of Grand Slam moments.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2019
Growned folks have whole slews of ways of crushing your spirits if you’re young.
From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis
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.
