sweltered; sweltering
ˈswel-t(ə-)riŋ 
1
: to suffer, sweat, or be faint from heat
2
: to become exceedingly hot
in summer, the place swelters
Synonyms
Examples of swelter in a Sentence
Verb
We were sweltering in the summer heat.
Noun
the set designer spent the entire week before opening night in a swelter
Recent Examples on the Web
Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 20 May 2024
Hundreds of thousands of Texans continued to swelter in unrelenting heat and humidity Sunday as a fleet of utility workers tried to restore electricity three days after a derecho and a few tornadoes slammed the Houston area, leaving seven dead.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 19 May 2024
After 61 years of rain, wind, snow and sweltering heat that rotted its wood, broke its wheels and corroded its metal, the old covered wagon held.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2024
By Alice Park May 14, 2024 4:44 PM EDT
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record since 1850, and this summer could be just as sweltering.
—Alice Park, TIME, 14 May 2024
My son's chamber music group met for the first time the next morning in a sweltering fourth-floor room at Cremona’s Chamber of Commerce.
—Julie Orringer, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2024
Against the backdrop of the sweltering summer heat, the collaboration aims to fuse the worlds of beauty and hip-hop in a celebration of empowerment and self-expression.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 13 May 2024
The steamy soil said hell no to John Bulls, even dead ones, and pushed those rotting redcoats back into the sweltering sun.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 7 May 2024
As Miami braces for another sweltering year, choosing the right HVAC system becomes crucial.
—Sara Kendall, Miami Herald, 3 May 2024
Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper's BAZAAR, 24 Aug. 2023
Although the temperature on the day of the 1963 March may have been lower than Saturday’s, many factors may have contributed to the sense of swelter recalled by participants in the original event.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2023
The failure of humidity to reach the stickiness of peak swelter showed up in the heat index, often regarded as an indicator of how things actually feel.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2023
Each side can make five subs per game at the 2023 World Cup, with an extra sixth sub reserved for players who suffer a head injury and must be removed.
– While much of the world swelters, Auckland is feeling a bit chilly.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 19 July 2023
Washington’s heat only grazed the heights of scorch on Saturday, but the humidity helped the day approach the state of a significant summer swelter.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 16 July 2023
An uncrowded spot to shake the swelter, and come away wanting to save the planet.
—Britt Kennerly, USA TODAY, 5 July 2023
Although Sunday was only the second day of July, the high temperature in Washington, combined with the day’s soggy air and high humidity seemed to be leading us deep into summer and its typical swelter.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 3 July 2023
State-by-state average temperature trends from 1990 to 2020 show America's summer swelter is increasing more in some of the places that just got baked with extreme heat over the past week: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Colorado.
—Seth Borenstein, Star Tribune, 4 July 2021
Verb
In summer, when the city below is sweltering, the granite peak in the Santa Catalina Range offers cool respite.
—Brandon Loomis, The Arizona Republic, 20 May 2024
Hundreds of thousands of Texans continued to swelter in unrelenting heat and humidity Sunday as a fleet of utility workers tried to restore electricity three days after a derecho and a few tornadoes slammed the Houston area, leaving seven dead.
—Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY, 19 May 2024
After 61 years of rain, wind, snow and sweltering heat that rotted its wood, broke its wheels and corroded its metal, the old covered wagon held.
—Eric Adler, Kansas City Star, 15 May 2024
By Alice Park May 14, 2024 4:44 PM EDT
The summer of 2023 was the hottest on record since 1850, and this summer could be just as sweltering.
—Alice Park, TIME, 14 May 2024
My son's chamber music group met for the first time the next morning in a sweltering fourth-floor room at Cremona’s Chamber of Commerce.
—Julie Orringer, Travel + Leisure, 14 May 2024
Against the backdrop of the sweltering summer heat, the collaboration aims to fuse the worlds of beauty and hip-hop in a celebration of empowerment and self-expression.
—Shelby Stewart, Essence, 13 May 2024
The steamy soil said hell no to John Bulls, even dead ones, and pushed those rotting redcoats back into the sweltering sun.
—Carly Tagen-Dye, Peoplemag, 7 May 2024
As Miami braces for another sweltering year, choosing the right HVAC system becomes crucial.
—Sara Kendall, Miami Herald, 3 May 2024
Noun
But the swelter of the room ceased to exist when Griffiths stood up to read.
—Kaitlyn Greenidge, Harper's BAZAAR, 24 Aug. 2023
Although the temperature on the day of the 1963 March may have been lower than Saturday’s, many factors may have contributed to the sense of swelter recalled by participants in the original event.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 27 Aug. 2023
The failure of humidity to reach the stickiness of peak swelter showed up in the heat index, often regarded as an indicator of how things actually feel.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2023
Each side can make five subs per game at the 2023 World Cup, with an extra sixth sub reserved for players who suffer a head injury and must be removed.
– While much of the world swelters, Auckland is feeling a bit chilly.
—Sean Gregory, Time, 19 July 2023
Washington’s heat only grazed the heights of scorch on Saturday, but the humidity helped the day approach the state of a significant summer swelter.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 16 July 2023
An uncrowded spot to shake the swelter, and come away wanting to save the planet.
—Britt Kennerly, USA TODAY, 5 July 2023
Although Sunday was only the second day of July, the high temperature in Washington, combined with the day’s soggy air and high humidity seemed to be leading us deep into summer and its typical swelter.
—Martin Weil, Washington Post, 3 July 2023
State-by-state average temperature trends from 1990 to 2020 show America's summer swelter is increasing more in some of the places that just got baked with extreme heat over the past week: California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Oregon and Colorado.
—Seth Borenstein, Star Tribune, 4 July 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'swelter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near swelter
Cite this Entry
“Swelter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swelter. Accessed 24 May. 2024.
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