swamp

American  

[swomp] / swɒmp /

noun

1. a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.

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verb (used with object)

1. to flood or drench with water or the like.

2. Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.

3. to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.

4. to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something.

   He swamped us with work.

5. to render helpless.

6. to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed byout ).

7. to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.

verb (used without object)

1. to fill with water and sink, as a boat.

2. to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.

3. to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.

swamp British  

/ swɒmp /

noun

1. 1. permanently waterlogged ground that is usually overgrown and sometimes partly forested Compare marsh

   2. ( as modifier )

      swamp fever

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verb

1. to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

2. nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water

3. to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers

   we have been swamped with applications

4. to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp

5. (tr) to render helpless

swamp Scientific  

/ swŏmp /

1. An area of low-lying wet or seasonally flooded land, often having trees and dense shrubs or thickets.

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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

But floods have now swamped more than 100,000 hectares of land, wiping out key crops and forcing farmers in the country's northwest to flee with their livestock.

From Barron's

The mist cleared, and he could see her rolling her eyes in panic, thrashing her neck from side to side in the sticky, suffocating swamp.

From Literature

A romp in the swamp or failure in the foulness of a Rome afternoon?

From BBC

A more modern Mongolian issue: When the collection went online last month, the company was swamped with orders and struggled to meet demand.

From The Wall Street Journal

The dinghy they were travelling on became swamped and capsized in the early hours of 24 November 2021, in what became the deadliest Channel small boat incident on record.

From BBC

Related Words

• beset
• besiege
• drench
• drown
• engulf
• inundate
• overcrowd
• overflow
• overload
• saturate
• sink
• submerge
• wash