- past participle of swell.
swollen
Americanverb
adjective
-
tumid or enlarged by or as if by swelling
-
turgid or bombastic
Other Word Forms
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.
Swollen stock portfolios should encourage rich households to spend on expensive art.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026
"Swollen MicroShunts can be structurally fragile," said ophthalmologist and Assistant Professor Ryo Tomita of Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, the study's first author.
From Science Daily • Jan. 16, 2026
"Swollen face, a fever, lameness, drooling and crusting of the nostrils - if you do come across any of those clinical signs ring the department immediately and we will investigate."
From BBC • Dec. 6, 2025
Swollen inventories of some goods at retailers like Target are likely to send prices lower as the companies try to clear their shelves.
From New York Times • Jun. 24, 2022
Swollen and dark like she'd been standing in coal.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
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.
