swamp
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to flood or drench with water or the like.
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Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
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to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
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to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something.
He swamped us with work.
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to render helpless.
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to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed byout ).
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to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.
verb (used without object)
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to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
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to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.
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to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.
noun
verb
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to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
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nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water
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to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers
we have been swamped with applications
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to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp
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(tr) to render helpless
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swampsimple
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swampssimple
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have swampedperfect
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has swampedperfect
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am swampingprogressive
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are swampingprogressive
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is swampingprogressive
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have been swampingperfect progressive
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has been swampingperfect progressive
Past
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swampedsimple
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had swampedperfect
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was swampingprogressive
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were swampingprogressive
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had been swampingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swamp
First recorded in 1615–25; from Dutch zwamp “creek, fen”; akin to sump and to Middle Low German swamp, Old Norse svǫppr “sponge”
Explanation
A swamp is an area that floods every year because the land is low. Watch out for alligators if you visit Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, the largest swamp in the United States. Anyone who has spent time in a busy restaurant kitchen has heard harried chefs cry, "I'm in the weeds!" Such people are in a different kind of swamp — the challenging environment in which too many things need to be done in too short a time. Another way of saying this is, "I'm swamped." Here swamp is a verb that describes being stuck in a seemingly endless situation — you feel like you're stuck in the squishy mud of a real swamp.
Vocabulary lists containing swamp
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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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.
As whole house fans and swamp coolers can suck additional pollutants inside, the department recommends using air purifiers or air conditioners as alternatives when possible.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2026
Here’s what can’t be denied: The Sunshine State’s reputation as the nation’s dangle, Heaven’s lobby, and a land of swamp creatures and crocodile wrestlers and Disneyworld and Mar-A-Lago and, somehow, Miami.
From Salon • Jul. 1, 2026
That’s a huge revision, and it was big enough to swamp the effects of reduced consumer spending.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 25, 2026
“If they do, I’d say, ‘Welcome to the swamp.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026
“I am thinksing,” said Ratwin, “that humans are not supposed to smells so much like a swamp, no?”
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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.
