swamp
Americannoun
-
swamps
plural
verb (used with object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
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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
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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
-
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
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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:
This 4.5-million-hectare swathe of forest and swamp, under normal conditions, serves as a valuable reservoir for ancient carbon.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
For centuries, it was a vast swamp where mosquitoes spread malaria among shepherds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
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
A swamp beast covered in horns peers up at us through the murky water.
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
Rivers is one of several states that make up the southern Niger Delta region, a vast area of swamps and wetlands with huge reserves of oil and gas along Nigeria's coast.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
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
A river stretched along the far horizon, lined with a few reeds growing up from the swamps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 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
He’d make up silly raps as we waited for a bite on our lines, and as the sun went down we’d go deeper into the swamps to listen to the Swampfolk put on jazz concerts.
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Hydropower worker Surendra Dowluri, 33, from India's Andhra Pradesh state, described how raging water swamped the Upper Trishuli-1 site, where he was working.
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
I was not surprised by recent news that online classes have become swamped by artificial intelligence cheating, eroding academic integrity.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
Three hours into the tour, investigators alleged Hernandez-Umana attempted to speed through swell during a U-turn and swamped the bow.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
"Women get swamped with messages, so any woman who messaged me showed real interest," they said.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The top-down goals become swamped, overwhelmed by the primitive bottom-up system aimed at warning us of opportunity or threat, playing to our deepest social needs.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
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
With more than a billion internet users, India is grappling with AI-generated disinformation swamping social media.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
“Rashomon” begins in that torrential downpour, swamping the men who huddle for shelter beneath the pillars of the ancient gate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
"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
Poor Mohammed, he thought, all his brothers and sisters swamping him.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
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.
