swamp
Americannoun
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swamps
plural
verb (used with object)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
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swamping
present participle
-
to flood or drench with water or the like.
-
Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.
-
to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.
-
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)
-
swamps,
present (3rd person singular)
-
swamped,
past participle, past
-
swamping
present participle
-
to fill with water and sink, as a boat.
-
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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
swampsimple
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swampssimple
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have swampedperfect
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has swampedperfect
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am swampingprogressive
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are swampingprogressive
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is swampingprogressive
-
have been swampingperfect progressive
-
has been swampingperfect progressive
Past
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swampedsimple
-
had swampedperfect
-
was swampingprogressive
-
were swampingprogressive
-
had been swampingperfect progressive
Future
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”
Explanation
A swamp is an area that floods every year because the land is low. Watch out for alligators if you visit Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana, the largest swamp in the United States. Anyone who has spent time in a busy restaurant kitchen has heard harried chefs cry, "I'm in the weeds!" Such people are in a different kind of swamp — the challenging environment in which too many things need to be done in too short a time. Another way of saying this is, "I'm swamped." Here swamp is a verb that describes being stuck in a seemingly endless situation — you feel like you're stuck in the squishy mud of a real swamp.
Vocabulary lists containing swamp
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Physical Geography - High School
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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:
Even then there is a high chance the fire will reappear, like a smoking revenant, fed by hidden fuel buried in the invisible depths of the peat swamp.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
Even Wednesday, the Clippers sneerily referenced “podcast allegations” as if they came from a catfish in a swamp and not a show which had already won a Pulitzer for the work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The former swamp, made muddy by recent rains, is a natural deterrent for potential invaders.
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
The remains came from both native and introduced animals, including cows, kangaroos, emus, sheep, pigs, dingoes, rabbits, possums, quolls and swamp rats.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
He dared not look up in case he saw her again, struggling hopelessly in the swamp.
From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda
It is these same industrial-scale development projects that have been largely responsible for draining the area's peat swamps, which renders them significantly more fire-prone, Prof Page says.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
The world-renowned site features iron carbonate concretions that formed some 309 million years ago, fossilizing within them ancient creatures that had once thrived in the area's lush swamps, shallow seas and river deltas.
From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026
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 ● Feb. 26, 2026
The NFL swamps all rival sports leagues in America.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Beyond the ring of their firelight, there was nothing except animal sounds and insects, the black wildness of the jungles and swamps, the swelter of the interior.
From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi
But as the pandemic wore on and e-commerce boomed, the industry became swamped and additional small- to mid-size carriers entered the market.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
I was not surprised by recent news that online classes have become swamped by artificial intelligence cheating, eroding academic integrity.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
"Women get swamped with messages, so any woman who messaged me showed real interest," they said.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
"You need to be happy," reads graffiti spray-painted on a ruined building swamped in trash in Cuba's capital Havana.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
Inside Natalie’s hoodie, Churro coughed and squirmed, swamped but not drowned.
From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz
Its competitors have accused it of irregular business practices, including winning illegal tax breaks in Kenya and swamping the market with bikes before the battery infrastructure is in place to handle the load.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
It is swamping the effects of tariffs and the war with Iran, events that would ordinarily be Category 5 storms in their own right.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
"If a tidal wave of Chinese exports ends up swamping those markets and damaging employment and jobs … that's a massive diplomatic and geopolitical headache for the Chinese leadership."
From BBC ● Apr. 17, 2025
The worst flu season in years is swamping California, prompting a renewed surge in hospitalizations as officials warn the disease could continue circulating at high levels for weeks to come.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 11, 2025
She bent over the side to try to wash the smell off her hands, nearly swamping the boat.
From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck
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.
