swamp
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to flood or drench with water or the like.
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Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
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to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
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to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something.
He swamped us with work.
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to render helpless.
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to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed byout ).
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to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.
verb (used without object)
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to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
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to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.
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to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.
noun
verb
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to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged
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nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water
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to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers
we have been swamped with applications
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to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp
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(tr) to render helpless
Other Word Forms
- swampish adjective
- swampless adjective
- swampy adjective
- underswamp noun
Etymology
Origin of swamp
First recorded in 1615–25; from Dutch zwamp “creek, fen”; akin to sump and to Middle Low German swamp, Old Norse svǫppr “sponge”
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.
If it is the fate of all men to be eclipsed by time, it is the special fate of the reformers of the day to be swamped by the incoming tide of tomorrow.
If you’re new to her work, here is where to start with Groff’s sprawling canon, which spans from steamy Florida swamps to medieval abbeys with a gift for the unexpected.
From Los Angeles Times
Purists would celebrate those productivity gains, but their economic benefit would be quickly swamped by the negative implications of having entire companies go out of business in droves and surging unemployment.
From Barron's
Just as we walked out of our fields into the thick timber of the bottoms, a big fat swamp rabbit popped out of a brush pile and tore down a game trail.
From Literature
Large parts of the central Congo Basin are difficult to reach, and travel to isolated lakes and swamps often requires boats or traditional pirogues.
From Science Daily
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.
