swamp

play

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

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
As the first plantation downriver from the Marigny Plantation, the Brasserie occupied the land that today lies between Franklin Avenue and Press Street and between the river to the edge of what was then the nearby swamp.

— mike scott, NOLA.com, "Cheers to New Orleans, the one-time beer king of the South," 16 July 2017
Plan has seen families in Sudan flee their homes and resort to hiding in swamps, surviving on only water lilies.

— shay maunz, Glamour, "20 Million People are Starving and Nobody is Talking About It," 14 July 2017
The bog itself is surrounded by a dense shrub-carr swamp thicket that has to be penetrated.

— brian e. clark, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Cedarburg Bog is a rare habitat for southeastern Wisconsin," 7 July 2017
For 60 years, members of the Willow Aces deer camp have come to this same slice of Oneida County cedar swamp, riverbed marsh and wooded ridges.

— rick romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Despite growing worries about the herd's health, the annual fall deer hunt continues as a family tradition," 6 July 2017
And fingers crossed he’ll be forced to take his shirt off to help with an injury or swim in the swamp to save a turtle or something.

— peggy truong, Cosmopolitan, "Rude, Nick Jonas Is Barely In This New Jumanji Trailer," 29 June 2017
The flat postglacial geography of the sluggish Chicago River and its adjacent swamps marked the narrow southwestern edge of the Great Lakes watershed, the perfect spot for a canal to connect the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River watershed.

— bill savage, Chicago Reader, "Chicago’s famous flatness is important (and not always true)," 22 June 2017
And, crucially, what was the public-relations fire-swamp doing to Uber’s $70 billion valuation?

— adrienne lafrance, The Atlantic, "What Will Uber Become Without Travis Kalanick as CEO?," 21 June 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

Other Ecology Terms

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

swamp

verb

Definition of swamp

transitive verb
1a : to fill with or as if with water : inundate, submergeb : 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

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
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
But soon after Buffett took it over, the company was swamped by a tide of cheap imports, forcing it to shutter its U.S. plants.

— noah buhayar, Bloomberg.com, "A U.S. Shoe Town Tries to Rebuild From Warren Buffett’s ‘Worst Deal’ Ever," 13 June 2017
The lesson seems lost on Mayor Kevin Faulconer, whose efforts to carry water for SoccerCity developers and the downtown hotel industry may swamp his political future, with no old sorcerer returning to save the day.

— dan mcswain, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Facts may doom mayor's convention center ambitions," 11 June 2017
An informational meeting about water pollution in Washington County was swamped with questions for state officials Tuesday evening.

— bob shaw, Twin Cities, "Water-drinking public worried — or not — about 3M pollution in Washington County," 6 June 2017
That combination swamped a shrunken core of CPS workers with impossible caseloads.

— bob ortega, azcentral, "A horrifying journey through Arizona foster care, and why we don't know how many more children may be abused," 4 June 2017
Rising sea levels could swamp low-lying cities and farmland.

— paul wiseman, chicagotribune.com, "Analysts: Leaving climate deal likely wouldn't add U.S. jobs," 31 May 2017

First Known Use of swamp

1784

SWAMP Defined for English Language Learners

swamp

play

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

play

noun \ˈswämp\

Definition of swamp for Students

: wet spongy land often partly covered with water

swamp

play

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.