swap
Americanverb (used with object)
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swaps,
present (3rd person singular)
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swapped,
past participle, past
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swapping
present participle
-
to exchange, barter, or trade, as one thing for another.
He swapped his wrist watch for the radio.
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to substitute (one thing) for another (sometimes followed byin ).
Swap in red wine for white, since powerful nutrients are in the red grape's skin.
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to replace (one thing) with another (sometimes followed byout ).
To cut down on fat, swap cream for milk.
verb (used without object)
-
swaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swapped,
past participle, past
-
swapping
present participle
noun
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swaps
plural
verb
noun
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an exchange
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something that is exchanged
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Also called: swap option, swaption. finance a contract in which the parties to it exchange liabilities on outstanding debts, often exchanging fixed interest-rate for floating-rate debts ( debt swap ), either as a means of managing debt or in trading ( swap trading )
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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swapsimple
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swapssimple
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have swappedperfect
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has swappedperfect
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am swappingprogressive
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are swappingprogressive
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is swappingprogressive
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have been swappingperfect progressive
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has been swappingperfect progressive
Past
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swappedsimple
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had swappedperfect
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was swappingprogressive
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were swappingprogressive
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had been swappingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of swap
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English swappen “to strike, strike hands (in bargaining)”; cognate with dialectal German schwappen “to clap, box (the ears)”
Explanation
The word swap means you give something in exchange for something else. In the medieval ages, a farmer would swap — or exchange — his cow for his neighbor's horse. First used in the 1590s to mean "exchange, barter, trade," as a noun swap can mean an equal exchange. You might do a clothes swap with one of your friends in the hopes of perking up your wardrobe. As a verb swap describes the act of exchanging something for something else. You might swap oil for applesauce when baking brownies to make this treat healthier. In computer science swap means you move a piece of a computer program into memory.
Vocabulary lists containing swap
"Culture Clash"
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 17–September 23, 2022
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Ship Breaker
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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:
For example, one world's mechanics, based on those from the free 2014 game Mirror Isles by Alan Hazelden, sees players use mirror reflections to swap places across islands.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
They often trade the differences between the yields on bonds and related interest rate swap products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
When he was finally set free two years ago as part of an extraordinary multi-country prisoner swap, it took him almost as long to heal.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
That realisation helped him stay "stable and disciplined in prison", but also gave him a unique way of predicting what might happen next - and one guess was a prisoner swap.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Penelope could have made a lesson out of it, for Shakespeare had described a similarly unhappy swap in his tragic play Hamlet.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
There is a moment in the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz' where Dorothy swaps her monochrome world for glorious, eye-opening technicolour the minute she touches down in the Land of Oz.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Another trade that went up in smoke, money managers say, was buying French and Italian bonds and selling interest-rate swaps.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026
Furthermore, the cost of insuring high-yield debt in the technology sector, via credit-default swaps, is back at levels from the spring, while investment-grade tech CDS are at their highest since 2023, he notes.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
The Lakers sent two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to the Jazz for Kessler and then signed him to a four-year, $130-million contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026
Sure enough, shortly after Lippmann’s visit, AIG FP stopped selling credit default swaps.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Aston Villa and Tottenham effectively swapped places at either end of the table, with Villa rising up from the bottom three to finish in the top four and Spurs dropping to 17th.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
That curtain has been swapped out for something entirely new: a design titled “The Things We Know,” featuring a pensive-looking boy and girl beneath a halo of light.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
Some outside investors bought $300 million in preferred equity, while Drahi swapped $200 million of common shares for an equivalent amount of preferred shares.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Sarries were short of domination - the lead swapped hands four times in the final half hour of a blockbuster - but victory away at Leicester was a fine statement of intent.
From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026
He opened it, swapped out books and stuck his head in his locker for a moment to take a few deep breaths to get himself together.
From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds
Becoming official doesn't necessarily mean swapping payslips though.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
The researchers did not limit their experiments to conventional face swapping deepfakes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
Unavoidably the text has been chopped and channeled, with some swapping of parts, bits of narration screwed into dialogue and events described in a paragraph blown out into scenes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Chinese EV maker NIO raised some cash by selling part of its battery swapping business to Geely.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
I even like bussing tables in the restaurant, chatting with guests when I have a chance, and swapping stories with my coworkers.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
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.
