swarm

¹ American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

noun

swarms plural

1. a body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.

2. a body of bees settled together, as in a hive.

3. a great number of things or persons, especially in motion.

   Synonyms:

   mass, host, horde

4. Biology. a group or aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming cells or organisms.

5. Geology. a cluster of earthquakes or other geologic phenomena or features.

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verb (used without object)

1. to fly off together in a swarm, as bees.

2. to move about, along, forth, etc., in great numbers, as things or persons.

3. to congregate, hover, or occur in groups or multitudes; be exceedingly numerous, as in a place or area.

4. (of a place) to be thronged or overrun; abound or teem.

   The beach swarms with children on summer weekends.

5. Biology. to move or swim about in a swarm.

verb (used with object)

1. to swarm about, over, or in; throng; overrun.

2. to produce a swarm of.

swarm ² American  

[swawrm] / swɔrm /

verb (used with or without object)

1. to climb by clasping with the legs and hands or arms and drawing oneself up; shin.

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swarm ¹ British  

/ swɔːm /

noun

1. a group of social insects, esp bees led by a queen, that has left the parent hive in order to start a new colony

2. a large mass of small animals, esp insects

3. a throng or mass, esp when moving or in turmoil

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verb

1. (intr) (of small animals, esp bees) to move in or form a swarm

2. (intr) to congregate, move about or proceed in large numbers

3. to overrun or be overrun (with)

   the house swarmed with rats

4. (tr) to cause to swarm

swarm ² British  

/ swɔːm /

verb

1. to climb (a ladder, etc) by gripping with the hands and feet

   the boys swarmed up the rigging

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Synonym Usage

See crowd ¹.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• swarmer
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• swarms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of swarm¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English swearm; cognate with German Schwarm swarm, Old Norse svarmr “tumult”; the verb is derivative of the noun

Origin of swarm²

First recorded in 1540–50; origin uncertain

Explanation

A swarm is a good word for a large group of bees going on the attack — not good news. Like bees, any group of people or animals can be considered a swarm if they act together and quickly — even fiercely. On a hot day, when an ice-cream truck shows up, it's usually greeted by a swarm of hot, hungry kids. People at a concert can be a swarm — and people in the swarm can be hurt, because there's lots of pushing and shoving. When tickets for a popular movie go on sale, a swarm of people will swarm the theater. As you can see, swarm works as either a noun or verb, and people could teach bees a thing or two about swarming.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

swarm swarms

The same week as her trip to the grocery store, Amundson was driving when she saw six masked officers jump out of a car and swarm a man sitting alone at a bus stop.

From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026

Pitbull fans swarm his shows wearing bald caps and aviator sunglasses, a nod to the hairless rapper’s signature look.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

Rather than a single solid shell, scientists now envision a Dyson "swarm" made up of countless orbiting structures that capture nearly all of a star's energy.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 10, 2026

"As soon as I get any food out the flies swarm."

From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026

In September 2004, earthquakes began to swarm again, eerily like the ones in March and April 1980.

From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone

It warned cyber-security professionals around the world they needed to adapt to the new normal of swarms of AI agents working at speed in strange and clumsy ways that might lead to more breaches.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Large groups of these intrusions, called dike swarms, can preserve a record of intense volcanic activity long after the magma has solidified.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 18, 2026

Israel and Iran, serving as a primary missile to defend against drone swarms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Mia Meyers, 19, was closing up shop at Sancho’s Tacos, which is located near Pavilions, around 5 p.m. when she witnessed swarms of people pounding on the business’ windows.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 5, 2026

Dead fish and gooey vegetable matter were exposed and rotted, while swarms of insects droned in the heavy, humid air.

From "An American Plague: The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793" by Jim Murphy

Related Words

• congregate
• crawl
• flock
• gather
• overrun
• stream
• teem
• throng