1
as in boyfriends
a male romantic companion
a romanticized portrait of a bygone era of beauteous Southern belles and their gallant swains
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2
as in wooers
a man who courts a woman usually with the goal of marrying her
Grandma claims that she had several swains pursuing her, but it was only Grandpa who won her heart
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Recent Examples of Synonyms for swains
Noun
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By the 1990s, the rule book was hundreds of pages long, with lines as specific as which fork to use at dinner and directives to not speak about boyfriends in front of fans, according to Texas Monthly's podcast America's Girls.
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By the time of Spencer’s conviction, arrests and prosecutions of such cases had nearly doubled and judges would no longer routinely grant bail to husbands or boyfriends who have been arrested.
Noun
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Wine lovers should consider hitting some stops on the Great River Road Wine Trail, especially Danzinger Vineyards on the bluff in Alma.
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The track went viral on TikTok earlier this year, with longtime lovers of the musician remembering the hit, while younger fans may have discovered it for the first time.
Noun
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So are their girlfriends and wives, who support their beaus in stadiums and at home.
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Despite some very not-so-subtle hints from yours truly, my past beaus have never gifted me a handbag on Valentine’s Day, either.
Noun
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Remarkable for her constancy and intelligence, Penelope devises delay tactics to discourage 108 aggressive suitors during Odysseus’s 20-year absence.
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In The Other Bennet Sister’s version of Regency England, not one but two suitors end up emerging from a lake in clingy wet shirts, though the heroine is not as effortlessly winsome as the subjects of other Austen adaptations tend to be.
Noun
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According to department officials, the complaint alleged that when girls object to sharing spaces with boys, the district puts the burden on the girls to find other facilities.
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Two young Brazilian boys showed their fancy dance moves the sound of a bagpipe played by Scottish Tartan Army fan Mark Love, who was visiting from Edinburgh.
Noun
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The institute will be housed in Berkeley’s political science department, serving about 500 students a year, hosting fellows and funding research on democracy.
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The project is supported by City of Hobbies, a group of organizations supporting youth fellows in Charlotte who conduct research on the impact of hobbies and hobby-developing spaces.
Noun
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America, whose Constitution was formulated by white men, struggled to live up to its founding ideals in the days of slavery and displacement of Native Americans.
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The Royals finished 0-for-2 with runners in scoring position (RISP) Thursday and left five men on base.
Cite this Entry
“Swains.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swains. Accessed 5 Jul. 2026.
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