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
- swampish adjective
- swampless adjective
- swampy adjective
- underswamp noun
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”
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.
The difference is a matter of a few hundred bucks, and what you pay in capital gains taxes is likely to swamp any tiny performance advantage.
From Barron's • Apr. 1, 2026
Troops found the submarine in a mangrove swamp in the Cayapas–Mataje nature reserve.
From BBC • Mar. 5, 2026
It is bordered by vast swamp forests and largely undisturbed lowland rainforest growing atop deep peat deposits.
From Science Daily • Feb. 24, 2026
When you hail from one of the top 10 swamp cities in northeastern Florida, it’s just about impossible not to have a few in your circle.
From Salon • Feb. 4, 2026
Avid inventors tend to swamp physics departments and science magazines with blueprints for incredible machines—machines that eternally generate power without any source of energy.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
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.
