swap
Americanverb (used with object)
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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)
noun
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
- swapper noun
- unswapped adjective
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)”
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.
The incident prompted flight staff to swap sections on the plane, but Woodbury’s behavior persisted.
From Los Angeles Times
It can go four hours on a charge, and swaps out its own batteries.
From Barron's
Quantum memories help solve this problem by making quantum repeaters possible, allowing information to hop across a network through entanglement swapping rather than fading away.
From Science Daily
Twenty or so of Rowen’s friends swap stories about their rebuilds in a group chat.
In November, a U.S. judge blessed a proposed sale of Citgo to an affiliate of Elliott Management, which had been in a contest against several other investors to swap debts for control of the company.
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.
