swamp
Americannoun
-
swamps
plural
verb (used with object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
-
swamping
present participle
-
to flood or drench with water or the like.
-
Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
-
to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
-
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 ).
-
to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.
verb (used without object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
-
swamping
present participle
-
to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
-
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
-
to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
-
nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water
-
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
-
(tr) to render helpless
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
swampsimple
-
swampssimple
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have swampedperfect
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has swampedperfect
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am swampingprogressive
-
are swampingprogressive
-
is swampingprogressive
-
have been swampingperfect progressive
-
has been swampingperfect progressive
Past
-
swampedsimple
-
had swampedperfect
-
was swampingprogressive
-
were swampingprogressive
-
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.
See Examples For:
The former swamp, made muddy by recent rains, is a natural deterrent for potential invaders.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The remains came from both native and introduced animals, including cows, kangaroos, emus, sheep, pigs, dingoes, rabbits, possums, quolls and swamp rats.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Others, including businesses within the same strip mall, donated portable swamp coolers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 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
Anya dove deeper into the dark swamp, Ivan following carefully behind her.
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
The world-renowned site features iron carbonate concretions that formed some 309 million years ago, fossilizing within them ancient creatures that had once thrived in the area's lush swamps, shallow seas and river deltas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
To conduct the study, Koparde and his team had to hike to remote locations and through difficult terrain, like moss-covered riverbanks and mangrove swamps.
From BBC ● May 2, 2026
If you’re new to her work, here is where to start with Groff’s sprawling canon, which spans from steamy Florida swamps to medieval abbeys with a gift for the unexpected.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Large parts of the central Congo Basin are difficult to reach, and travel to isolated lakes and swamps often requires boats or traditional pirogues.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 24, 2026
Throughout the war, hundreds of Soviet night bomber regiments moved to follow the front line, as it skirted swamps or rough terrain, or bulged in one direction or another when there was a local victory.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
Recruiters and HR offices are swamped with applications that people churn out with job-search platforms and AI agents.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Feverish interest in players like Erling Haaland, boosted by Norway's victory over Brazil, means shops have been swamped as soon as fresh kits drop.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
A private real-estate fund managed by Starwood Capital effectively gated investors in 2024 after being swamped by redemption requests.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
The single votes that they acquire for every SpaceX Class A share offered in the IPO is swamped by the 10 votes per share of the company’s class B stock.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
We cannot yet directly see the planets of other stars, tiny points of light swamped in the brilliance of their local suns.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Yet over time, the project incurred an astonishing $880 million in change orders, swamping the original $1.95-billion cost estimate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
Its competitors have accused it of irregular business practices, including winning illegal tax breaks in Kenya and swamping the market with bikes before the battery infrastructure is in place to handle the load.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
He began gaining renown as a lawyer in an era when asbestos cases were swamping the U.S. courts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 28, 2026
"If a tidal wave of Chinese exports ends up swamping those markets and damaging employment and jobs … that's a massive diplomatic and geopolitical headache for the Chinese leadership."
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
She bent over the side to try to wash the smell off her hands, nearly swamping the boat.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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.
