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.
-
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.
-
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
-
have swampedperfect
-
has swampedperfect
-
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:
As I was working on this article, our garbage disposal started leaking swamp water to the tune of $750.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2026
But a major incident that causes widespread economic or human harm could swamp a company’s financial buffers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Authorities say the plane was on a routine mission from Benin City to Lagos when it came down in a swamp near a naval base on Monday morning.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
She said someone who went fishing in the swamp alerted the nearby naval base and people in the town about the crash.
From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026
Its bridges connect to Manhattan and it’s split up by canals and creeks—filthy green streaks of water that remind you that it used to be a swamp.
From "It’s Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini
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
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
Although its peatlands and swamps cover just 0.3 percent of the planet's land surface, they store about one third of all carbon held in tropical peatlands worldwide.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 24, 2026
The monkeys were crab-eating monkeys, a species that lives along rivers and in mangrove swamps in Southeast Asia.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
When the first trailer appeared online, many users swamped comment sections to complain about what they'd seen.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2026
Nepal rescuers are still excavating hydropower tunnels swamped by freezing mud, with hundreds of workers among the missing.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
But as the pandemic wore on and e-commerce boomed, the industry became swamped and additional small- to mid-size carriers entered the market.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 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
There was a bowl set out for him filled with off-yellow pasta swamped in bright orange sauce.
From "Healer of the Water Monster" by Brian Young
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
Critics have accused both companies of contributing to a deluge of so-called AI slop swamping the internet and blurring lines between real and fake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
