swelter
Americanverb (used without object)
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swelters,
present (3rd person singular)
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sweltered,
past participle, past
-
sweltering
present participle
verb (used with object)
-
swelters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
sweltered,
past participle, past
-
sweltering
present participle
-
to oppress with heat.
-
Archaic. to exude, as venom.
noun
verb
-
(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
-
a sweltering condition (esp in the phrase in a swelter )
-
oppressive humid heat
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sweltersimple
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swelterssimple
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have swelteredperfect
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has swelteredperfect
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am swelteringprogressive
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are swelteringprogressive
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is swelteringprogressive
-
have been swelteringperfect progressive
-
has been swelteringperfect progressive
Past
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swelteredsimple
-
had swelteredperfect
-
was swelteringprogressive
-
were swelteringprogressive
-
had been swelteringperfect progressive
Future
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.
See Examples For:
Coughlan also said that the recent heatwaves, which saw the south east of England swelter in temperatures as high as 35C, had been the "nail in the coffin" for the firm.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Sandbanks are multiplying, depths fall to barely one meter in places, and the river's few remaining fishermen swelter in the heat.
From Barron's ● Jun. 27, 2026
When the city starts to swelter, the smell of trash sticks ineradicably to a garbageman’s body and soul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Warm spring evenings that soon will lip into summer swelter.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2025
We strike a medium, and he shivers outside his bag, while I swelter in mine; but considering from what distances we have come together to share this tent a while, we do well enough.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
The wildfire comes as Spain swelters in a heatwave, with scorching temperatures triggering orange weather warnings – the second highest level -- across parts of Andalusia in recent days.
From Barron's ● Jul. 10, 2026
Del Real swelters on futuristic bolero “Incomprensible,” which takes the old-school Cuban torch-song genre and pitches its emblematic guitar to psychedelic new heights.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2025
While much of the UK swelters in the summer heat, Antarctica is celebrating an icy Midwinter's Day without any sun and with driving snow.
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2025
SEE ALSO: South Korea scrambles as global Scout gathering swelters in ‘heat trap’
From Washington Times ● Aug. 7, 2023
The city swelters with the mercury out of sight and then along steps the east wind.
From The Spanish Chest by Edna Adelaide Brown
Europe has sweltered through one heat wave after another this summer, and its green disavowal of air conditioning comes at an economic cost.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
Across Europe, the summer months have sweltered through intense, record-breaking heatwaves with minimal rain.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The authorities suspect the wildfire began when a power line broke as Spain sweltered in extreme heat, exceeding 40C in recent weeks, creating tinderbox conditions.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
The authorities suspect the wildfire began when a power line broke as Spain sweltered in extreme heat, creating tinderbox conditions.
From Barron's ● Jul. 11, 2026
Men froze by winter and sweltered in summer.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
But that’s where one frightened audience member wound up in 1980 after seeing “Friday the 13th” in a sweltering Hollywood theater.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 19, 2026
In Davis, Calif., the transformer on my block repeatedly blew up during heat waves, leaving us sweltering, sometimes for days at a time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The town is accessible from a battered highway that cuts through the flat, sweltering landscape.
From Barron's ● Sep. 26, 2026
Locals have complained that the heat generated by the centres made already sweltering summer temperatures even worse.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2026
During the first days after the shooting, newspapers reported that Garfield's room was sweltering.
From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow
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