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
-
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
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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 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
"In the afternoon it becomes really intolerable, because this is reclaimed swamp," he said, nodding to Washington's geography.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 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
The original features “an all-American archetype of a virtuous family pitted against a monster,” while Scorsese depicted a “broken and dysfunctional family and the monster is even more extreme, he’s like a swamp creature.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
There was a threatening-looking gang of geese on the far end of the field near the swamp.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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
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
That figure swamps the second-place service, Disney, with only a 10% share.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 16, 2025
The drone and die sea of green trees that lay before the plane’s nose and flowed to the horizon, spread with lakes, swamps, and wandering streams and rivers.
From "Hatchet" by Gary Paulsen
"Women get swamped with messages, so any woman who messaged me showed real interest," they said.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Meanwhile, he said the abandoned lot next door remains unsecured and swamped with trash from transients who frequent the site.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026
Recruiters and HR offices are swamped with applications that people churn out with job-search platforms and AI agents.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
On Wednesday when AFP visited Liulan, floodwaters had receded, but the streets and houses were swamped with thick mud.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
The thing can easily capsize or be swamped if the bows do not meet the great combing breakers at just the right angle.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
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
Study suggests two underwater faults could each generate 7.1 quakes, swamping areas near shore with 30-foot waves.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 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
Pictures show the deep flood waters swamping bridges and fast moving water swirling down roads.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2025
Waves crashed against it, swamping it for a moment before surging away, leaving it bold and grimly reaching upward.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
