swelter
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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to oppress with heat.
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Archaic. to exude, as venom.
noun
verb
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(intr) to suffer under oppressive heat, esp to sweat and feel faint
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archaic (tr) to exude (venom)
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rare (tr) to cause to suffer under oppressive heat
noun
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a sweltering condition (esp in the phrase in a swelter )
-
oppressive humid heat
Other Word Forms
- unsweltered adjective
Etymology
Origin of swelter
1375–1425; late Middle English swelt ( e ) ren (v.), equivalent to swelt ( en ) to be overcome with heat ( Old English sweltan to die; cognate with Old Norse svelta, Gothic swiltan ) + -eren -er 6
Explanation
To swelter is to be hot — very, very hot, like on a humid, ninety-degree day. To swelter is to feel like you're in an oven. This word is most often seen in the form sweltering, as in "The weather is sweltering! It's been over 95 degrees for a week straight." Any form of swelter is going to involve major heat — enough heat to make you sweat buckets. The opposite of swelter is "freeze."
Vocabulary lists containing swelter
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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"Macbeth" Vocabulary from Act IV
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"I Have a Dream" by Martin Luther King Jr.
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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.
That's where they've remained since Feb. 20, receiving little water and stale food as they swelter in the Panamanian heat.
From Salon • Mar. 3, 2025
People labor six days a week in the tropical swelter, through torrential rains and under the punishing sun.
From New York Times • Dec. 30, 2023
The same principles apply to commercial aircraft, as evidenced by passenger flight disruptions during periods of prolonged extreme heat in the Southwest, including this summer’s swelter.
From Scientific American • Sep. 14, 2023
Now a long stretch of mostly concrete, which can swelter in the California heat, Pershing Square hosts events such as a winter ice rink and concerts.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 1, 2023
I asked Mother if I could cut off my hair, which hung in a dense swelter all the way down my back.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
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.
