swollen

[swoh-luhn]

verb

1. a past participle of swell.

adjective

1. enlarged by or as by swelling; swelling; puffed up; tumid.

2. turgid or bombastic.

swollen

/ ˈswəʊlən /

verb

1. a past participle of swell

adjective

1. tumid or enlarged by or as if by swelling

2. turgid or bombastic

Other Word Forms

• swollenly adverb
• swollenness noun
• unswollen adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of swollen¹

First recorded in 1300–50, for the adjective

Example Sentences

Yet some of them are sacrificing their ultracheap loans to tap their swollen housing equity.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The gap between bodily experience and how to capture it on the page results in writing swollen with desire — and its rare fulfillment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Out in the benign but swollen landscape, so placid now but so full of potential unrest, unspeakable things have happened.

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Symptoms, such as swollen lips and throat and difficulty breathing, can happen very quickly.

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More than 80% of plague cases in the U.S. have been in the bubonic form, from which patients will develop swollen, painful lymph nodes called buboes, according to the CDC.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• bloated 
• inflamed www.thesaurus.com
• inflated