swap
Americanverb (used with object)
-
swaps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
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.
-
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.
-
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
-
swaps
plural
verb
noun
-
an exchange
-
something that is exchanged
-
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
-
swapsimple
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swapssimple
-
have swappedperfect
-
has swappedperfect
-
am swappingprogressive
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are swappingprogressive
-
is swappingprogressive
-
have been swappingperfect progressive
-
has been swappingperfect progressive
Past
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swappedsimple
-
had swappedperfect
-
was swappingprogressive
-
were swappingprogressive
-
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:
Gershkovich, a US citizen, was in 2024 released in a prisoner swap, the largest exchange since the Cold War took place.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
In 2023, US journalist Evan Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on espionage charges, later sentenced to 16 years in prison before being released in a 2024 prisoner swap.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Credit-default swap spreads have widened across several major AI companies, but stock prices have reacted differently.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 10, 2026
Here is a modest proposal: Lincoln Riley and Jim Harbaugh waive their buyout clauses and swap jobs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
“You can’t swap what you don’t own. She’s her own horse,” Charlie said.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
That’s based on credit-default swaps, which are derivative contracts that investors buy to hedge against against default risk.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 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
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
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
The cash flows of Mike Burry’s credit default swaps replicated the cash flows of the triple-B-rated subprime mortgage bond that he wagered against.
From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis
Roberts had swapped Hernández and slumping Will Smith in the batting order, moving Hernández up to third and Smith down to fifth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The script ends shortly after Haugen testified before Congress in October 2021, noting that the carpet in her waiting room had recently been swapped out because of bloodstains from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
Head coach of the Steel Queens' elite squad, Beth Dias-Scoon, swapped roller blades for ice skates at the age of seven.
From BBC ● 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
In fact, I could have swapped Gillian's name out of any of those stories, because Ethan and I had already done all those things together, we just hadn't told anybody about it—or, I hadn’t.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
That can mean swapping in a smaller plane with fewer seats available.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Tuchel highlighted England's 'counter-movements' as part of their improvement and the swapping and replacing of zones between Hall and Anthony Gordon have been a good example of this.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 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
The researchers did not limit their experiments to conventional face swapping deepfakes.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 1, 2026
She laughed so much it cracked him open, swapping his insides for his outsides, as if he were wearing his own nerves for a coat.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
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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.
