dwell

verb \ ˈdwel \

Definition of dwell

dwelled play \ˈdweld, ˈdwelt\ or dwelt play \ˈdwelt\; dwelling

intransitive verb

1 :to remain for a time

dwell in the hallway

2 a :to live as a resident

the town in which he dwelled for eight years

the dwelling place of the gods

b :exist, lie

where the heart of the matter dwells

3 a :to keep the attention directed —used with on or upon

tried not to dwell on my fears

b :to speak or write insistently —used with on or upon

reporters dwelling on the recent scandal

—

dweller

noun

See dwell defined for English-language learners

See dwell defined for kids

Examples of dwell in a Sentence

a cave where bats dwell
dwelling with a farm family as an exchange student in France

Recent Examples of dwell from the Web

Most of the property at 609 Blankenbaker sits atop a hill near a trendy location where some of Louisville's wealthiest home owners dwell, and preservationists want to save the Moore house.

— sheldon s. shafer, The Courier-Journal, "Is house near Locust Grove a landmark? Council may get involved in preservation fight," 23 Aug. 2017
Today in Arizona, however, 89.8 percent of the population dwells in urban areas, a higher percentage than in Connecticut; Texas’s population has become 84.7 percent urban, higher than Delaware.

— david frum, The Atlantic, "The Chilling Effects of Openly Displayed Firearms," 12 Aug. 2017
Where hardcore bands howled about alienation from society, emo bands dwelled more often on the loss of their girlfriends.

— mabel, Longreads, "Yearning for My Emo Days in Nostalgia-Inducing Asbury Park," 28 July 2017
Its mousebird descendants—about the size of a sparrow and marked by their soft, grayish or brownish hairlike feathers—still dwell in trees in sub-Saharan Africa today.

— carolyn gramling, Science | AAAS, "Tiny fossil reveals what happened to birds after dinosaurs went extinct," 10 July 2017
That’s hypothetical, of course — but what isn’t hypothetical is that, in our times, there is no apparent benefit to dwelling on the IQ gap.

— john mcwhorter, National Review, "Stop Obsessing Over Race and IQ," 5 July 2017
The novel rarely dwells on the potential consequences of wrestling through injury; rather, Habash glorifies certain aspects of Stephen’s sacrifice.

— alex mcelroy, The Atlantic, "Stephen Florida Reveals the Dark Toll of Athletic Greatness," 4 July 2017
The various licensing agreements that kept Spidey out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe until now are too arcane to dwell on but their end is worth celebrating.

— jordan hoffman, Popular Mechanics, "'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Makes Spidey Feel Fun and Fresh Again," 29 June 2017
Use spinosad, an organic insecticide made from a type of soil-dwelling bacteria.

— arricca sansone, Country Living, "Everything You Need to Know About Planting Pumpkin Seeds," 29 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dwell.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.