swamp

noun \ ˈswämp , ˈswȯmp \

Definition of swamp

1 :a wetland often partially or intermittently covered with water; especially :one dominated by woody vegetation

2 :a tract of swamp

3 :a difficult or troublesome situation or subject

—

swamp

adjective

See swamp defined for English-language learners

See swamp defined for kids

Examples of swamp in a Sentence

Alligators live in the lowland swamps.
be careful in the swamp, because alligators sometimes lurk there

Recent Examples of swamp from the Web

The enormity of the animals, which seems obvious while observing them in the field, suddenly becomes a cold reality when a big carcass is lying in a muskeg swamp.

— steve meyer, Alaska Dispatch News, "You’ve shot your moose. Are you strong enough to pack it out?," 23 Aug. 2017
About 45 miles southeast of Carbondale, near Belknap, White Crane Canoe Rentals & Guide Service is taking adventurers on a canoe expedition that will place them in total darkness in the ancient cypress swamp on the Cache River.

— ted gregory, chicagotribune.com, "Eclipse may spark bright future for Carbondale," 18 Aug. 2017
This administration can drain the Silicon Valley swamp and create change.

— jeremy carl, National Review, "How to Break Silicon Valley’s Anti-Free-Speech Monopoly," 15 Aug. 2017
Nicky Jackson Colaco, Instagram’s director of public policy, speaks of her own children and the many teenagers whose first experience with the swamp of social media is on Instagram.

— WIRED, "Instagram’s Kevin Systrom Wants to Clean Up the Internet," 14 Aug. 2017
That trilogy often overreached for the sake of creative science-fiction, zipping its heroes around to multiple themed planets (a swamp planet, a fire planet, a city planet!) while nearly everything and everyone around those heroes outshone them.

— jacob oller, The Hollywood Reporter, "'Valerian' Learned a Few Tricks from the 'Star Wars' Prequels," 22 July 2017
And, like the tangled veins of cypress roots that meander this way and that in the swamp, everything in New Orleans is interrelated, wrapped around itself in ways that aren't always obvious.

— george varga, sandiegouniontribune.com, "New Orleans music legend Dr. John reflects on a lifetime of song and adversity," 22 July 2017
Inside was a glimpse of what this part of the world looked like 306 million years and more than three mass extinctions ago, when this part of the world was a tidal swamp.

— matt campbell, kansascity, "Plant fossil found at Park University is 306 million years old and a new species," 19 July 2017
Two years ago, says a longtime resident, the site of the mall was a swamp, and Mae Sot was a poky little border town with two small grocery stores.

— The Economist, "More money, less freedomSouth-East Asia’s future looks prosperous but illiberal," 18 July 2017

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

Origin and Etymology of swamp

perhaps alteration of Middle English sompe, from Middle Dutch somp morass; akin to Middle High German sumpf marsh, Greek somphos spongy

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1624

See Words from the same year

swamp Synonyms

Synonyms

bog, fen, marsh, marshland, mire, moor, morass, muskeg, slough (also slew or slue), swampland, wash, wetland

Related Words

swale; quagmire; guck (or gook), muck, mud, ooze, slime, slop, sludge, slush

Other Ecology Terms

Malthusian, anthropogenic, biomass, carbon footprint, crepuscular, niche, sere, symbiosis, taiga, tundra

swamp

verb

Definition of swamp

transitive verb

1 a :to fill with or as if with water :inundate, submerge

b :to overwhelm numerically or by an excess of something :flood

swamped with work

2 :to open by removing underbrush and debris

intransitive verb

:to become submerged

See swamp defined for English-language learners

Examples of swamp in a Sentence

The sea level rose and swamped the coastal villages.
The boat sank after it was swamped by waves.

Recent Examples of swamp from the Web

Harvey, which came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane on Friday, has swamped southeast Texas with four days of heavy rains, causing massive flooding and deaths.

— mike cason, AL.com, "Alabama Guard sends medical aircraft crews to help in Texas," 28 Aug. 2017
Here's how to watch the solar eclipse safely As many as 200,000 tourists, scientists and eclipse junkies are expected to swamp the quiet town of 33,000, many of them arriving early for camping and a music festival.

— jeffrey lee puckett, The Courier-Journal, "Hopkinsville has become Eclipseville but can it handle the sea of humanity headed its way?," 3 Aug. 2017
And immediately the place would be swamped by needless controversies, tangled lines of authority, and policy confusion.

— rich lowry, National Review, "Reince for President," 14 July 2017
Instead, parts of the park became swamped by a rising water table.

— katy moeller, idahostatesman, "Water damage to Ann Morrison Park brings some to tears," 3 July 2017
At 8:55, two number 70 buses arrived at the same time and both were swamped with people carrying the black backpack — too many to count, both buses packed to the gills.

— david gutman, The Seattle Times, "The Amazon effect: Metro adds buses to handle new flock of summer interns," 21 June 2017
Boaters talk of buying bigger craft just to stay afloat — going to a 28-footer from a 22-footer to avoid getting swamped by the 50-footer that replaced a 40-footer.

— scott canon, kansascity.com, "Bigger boats, bigger wakes breed conflict on Lake of the Ozarks," 16 June 2017
In danger of swamping, coxswain Jim Bartlett quickly handed emergency buckets to the four oarsmen in the stern of the boat.

— bill knight, The Seattle Times, "If you loved ‘The Boys in the Boat,’ don’t miss this tale of adventure," 16 June 2017
The weather was windy, and apparently waves swamped the canoe.

— bob shaw, Twin Cities, "Man drowns in Lake Elmo fishing accident," 15 June 2017

First Known Use of swamp

1784

swamp Synonyms

Synonyms

deluge, drown, engulf, gulf, inundate, overflow, overwhelm, submerge, submerse, flood

Antonyms

drain

Related Words

avalanche, smother; overcome, overrun; flow, flush, gush, pour, sluice, spout, spurt, stream; douse (also dowse), drench, soak, wet

Near Antonyms

dehydrate, dry, parch

SWAMP Defined for English Language Learners

swamp

noun

Definition of swamp for English Language Learners

: land that is always wet and often partly covered with water

swamp

verb

Definition of swamp for English Language Learners

: to cover (something) with water
: to cause (someone or something) to have to deal with a very large amount of things or people at the same time

SWAMP Defined for Kids

swamp

noun \ ˈswämp \

Definition of swamp for Students

:wet spongy land often partly covered with water

swamp

verb

Definition of swamp for Students

swamped; swamping

1 :to fill or cause to fill with water :sink after filling with water

High waves swamped the boat.

The boat swamped.

2 :overwhelm 1

She was swamped with work.

Learn More about swamp

See words that rhyme with swamp Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for swamp Spanish Central: Translation of swamp Nglish: Translation of swamp for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of swamp for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about swamp

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up swamp? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

show

swamp

Definition of swamp

swamp

People Are Reading

Examples of swamp in a Sentence

Recent Examples of swamp from the Web

Origin and Etymology of swamp

swamp Synonyms

Synonyms

Related Words

Other Ecology Terms

swamp

Definition of swamp

Examples of swamp in a Sentence

Recent Examples of swamp from the Web

First Known Use of swamp

swamp Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related Words

Near Antonyms

SWAMP Defined for English Language Learners

swamp

Definition of swamp for English Language Learners

swamp

Definition of swamp for English Language Learners

SWAMP Defined for Kids

swamp

Definition of swamp for Students

swamp

Definition of swamp for Students

Learn More about swamp

Seen and Heard

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games

8 Words for Trickery and Deception

'Dis': From Early Rap to Academic Journals

Trending: NY Times: Trump's Call Ignites 'Imbroglio'

The Exceptions Quiz III

Words of the Year: 1066