slew
2 of 4past tense of slay
slew
4 of 4less common spelling of slough entry 1 sense 1b
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Slew appeared as an American colloquialism in the early 19th century. Its origins are unclear, but it is perhaps taken from the Irish slua, a descendant of Old Irish slúag, meaning "army," "host," or "throng." Slew has several homographs (words that are spelled alike but different in meaning, derivation, or pronunciation) in English. These include: slew as the past tense of the verb slay; slew as a spelling variant of slough, a word which is also commonly pronounced \SLOO\ and which means "swamp," "an inlet on a river," or "a creek in a marsh or tide flat"; and the verb slew, meaning "to turn, veer, or skid."
Synonyms
Noun
- abundance
- barrel
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- chunk
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- mass
- mess
- mountain
- much
- multiplicity
- myriad
- oodles
- pack
- passel
- peck
- pile
- plateful
- plenitude
- plentitude
- plenty
- pot
- potful
- profusion
- quantity
- raft
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- shipload
- sight
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wad
- wealth
- yard
Examples of slew in a Sentence
Elizabeth Heath, Travel + Leisure, 11 May 2024
Thankfully, there are a slew of ways to watch the big sendoff both live and on streaming.
—Meredith G. White, The Arizona Republic, 10 May 2024
The original film trilogy, which won a slew of Oscars, will be returning to theaters this summer, remastered and extended.
—Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 May 2024
The Biden administration has been racing this spring to finalize a slew of major environmental regulations, including rules to combat climate change, a first-ever ban on asbestos and new limits on toxic chemicals in tap water.
—Coral Davenport, New York Times, 9 May 2024
Then lawyers brought a slew of lawsuits against GSK and Sanofi, pharmaceutical companies that have sold the popular ranitidine drug Zantac, linking it to clients’ cancers.
—Jamie Ducharme, TIME, 9 May 2024
The Welcome to Rockville music festival comes to town this weekend, bringing with it a slew of rock and heavy metal artists to the Florida coast.
—Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY, 9 May 2024
There are a slew of methods to treat warts, including at-home treatments and in-office procedures.
—Lacey Muinos, Verywell Health, 3 May 2024
And while interpretations are sure to run the gamut, there will no doubt be a slew of floral looks to bookmark and savor for the summer months ahead.
—Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 3 May 2024
Ezra Dyer, Car and Driver, 27 Aug. 2023
Much of bonds’ gains came in the 1980s, when the Fed under Paul Volcker eased off its punishingly high interest rates, which slew that era’s double-digit inflation.
—Larry Light, Fortune, 13 Oct. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slew.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Slew.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew. Accessed 16 May. 2024.
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