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
USA TODAY, 4 Apr. 2024
The swimsuit comes in a slew of colors, including a navy blue floral pattern, orange, and turquoise, all of which are available in sizes XS through XXL.
—Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 3 Apr. 2024
The potential threat of artificial intelligence is not just a concern in the music industry, and the open letter brings together a slew of A-listers to put a spotlight on the growing concern of AI in the overall entertainment business.
—Elizabeth Wagmeister, CNN, 2 Apr. 2024
That is resulting in a slew of ground balls and thus limits their chances to be productive.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 1 Apr. 2024
Hulu content first became available on Disney+ in beta form late last year, but now the service is fully integrated, with executives touting a slew of technical moves needed to enable the move.
—Alex Weprin, The Hollywood Reporter, 27 Mar. 2024
The Wildcats have a slew of supporting scorers, all capable of hitting big shots.
—Jon Wilner, The Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2024
Initially, Holtec eyed decommissioning the plant but a slew of key figures, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have backed an effort to re-open Palisades.
—Arpan Lobo, Detroit Free Press, 27 Mar. 2024
Chinese authorities are examining the role of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in China Evergrande Group’s accounting practices after the developer was accused of a $78 billion fraud, ramping up pressure on the global accounting giant that audited a slew of developers before the sector’s meltdown.
—Bloomberg, Fortune Asia, 22 Mar. 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.
Word History
Noun
perhaps from Irish slua army, host, throng, from Old Irish slúag; akin to Lithuanian slaugyti to tend
Verb
origin unknown
Noun
1839, in the meaning defined above
Verb
circa 1769, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1
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Cite this Entry
“Slew.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew. Accessed 16 Apr. 2024.
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Kids Definition
slew
1 of 4past of slay
slew
2 of 4variant of slough entry 1 sense 1
slew
3 of 4 verbslew
4 of 4 noun
More from Merriam-Webster on slew
Nglish: Translation of slew for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of slew for Arabic Speakers
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