swamp

[ swomp ]
See synonyms for: swampswamped on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a tract of wet, spongy land, often having a growth of certain types of trees and other vegetation, but unfit for cultivation.

verb (used with object)
  1. to flood or drench with water or the like.

  2. Nautical. to sink or fill (a boat) with water.

  1. to plunge or cause to sink in or as if in a swamp.

  2. to overwhelm, especially to overwhelm with an excess of something: He swamped us with work.

  3. to render helpless.

  4. to remove trees and underbrush from (a specific area), especially to make or cleave a trail (often followed by out).

  5. to trim (felled trees) into logs, as at a logging camp or sawmill.

verb (used without object)
  1. to fill with water and sink, as a boat.

  2. to sink or be stuck in a swamp or something likened to a swamp.

  1. to be plunged into or overwhelmed with something, especially something that keeps one busy, worried, etc.

Origin of swamp

1
First recorded in 1615–25; from Dutch zwamp “creek, fen”; akin to sump and to Middle Low German swamp, Old Norse svǫppr “sponge”

Other words from swamp

  • swamp·ish, adjective
  • un·der·swamp, noun

Words Nearby swamp

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use swamp in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for swamp

swamp

/ (swɒmp) /


noun
    • permanently waterlogged ground that is usually overgrown and sometimes partly forested: Compare marsh

    • (as modifier): swamp fever

verb
  1. to drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

  2. nautical to cause (a boat) to sink or fill with water or (of a boat) to sink or fill with water

  1. to overburden or overwhelm or be overburdened or overwhelmed, as by excess work or great numbers: we have been swamped with applications

  2. to sink or stick or cause to sink or stick in or as if in a swamp

  3. (tr) to render helpless

Origin of swamp

1
C17: probably from Middle Dutch somp; compare Middle High German sumpf, Old Norse svöppr sponge, Greek somphos spongy

Derived forms of swamp

  • swampish, adjective
  • swampless, adjective
  • swampy, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for swamp

swamp

[ swŏmp ]


  1. An area of low-lying wet or seasonally flooded land, often having trees and dense shrubs or thickets.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.