verb
adjective
-
tumid or enlarged by or as if by swelling
-
turgid or bombastic
Other Word Forms
- swollenly adverb
- swollenness noun
- unswollen adjective
Etymology
Origin of swollen
First recorded in 1300–50, for the adjective
Explanation
When something's swollen, it's puffed up, rounded, and misshapen. If you've sprained your ankle, it's likely to be swollen and may look more like a grapefruit than the body part you know and love. When something swells up, it's swollen, and that can be anything from knees and glands to pregnant bellies. You can also use swollen more poetically: you can describe someone with a big ego as having a swollen head. A stormy ocean with big, angry waves is a swollen sea. And a state with out-of-control spending has a swollen budget, inflated by special projects and other expenses that there’s not enough money to pay for.
Vocabulary lists containing swollen
Beowulf vocabulary
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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List 9
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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.
Tirayut says his oldest daughter, six, "had nosebleeds, a rash, and an allergic reaction in her eyes, to the point where her eyelids were swollen".
From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026
"People's feet were swollen from all the walking they had done," recalled Batangouna, who served as a sergeant at the time.
From Barron's • Mar. 14, 2026
The condition involves swollen veins in the anal or rectal area, which can lead to pain and bleeding.
From Science Daily • Mar. 7, 2026
At an Olympics news conference this week, Vonn said her knee felt stable, not swollen, and that she will be ready to compete Sunday in the women’s downhill.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2026
He'd swollen to grotesque proportions since I'd last seen him, and he was now bigger than a horse.
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
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.
