swam

verb

Definition of swamnext
past tense of swim
1
as in spun
to be in a confused state as if from being twirled around his head was swimming after he was given so much information on his first day at the new job

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in hovered
to rest or move along the surface of a liquid or in the air there appeared to be an oily film swimming on the water

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of swam After lingering in nearby waters for hours, the shark swam beneath an outer barrier net installed on the platform that night and reentered the waterway. — ABC News, 22 Oct. 2026 More recently, a mother humpback and her calf swam into the Delta in 2007. — Anne Ewbank, Sacbee.com, 15 Oct. 2026 Despite the damage, no one was injured, and the whale quickly swam away. — Jennifer McLogan, CBS News, 13 Oct. 2026 More recently, Bushby swam about 184 miles across the Caspian Sea before continuing west toward Europe. — Deirdre Bardolf, FOXNews.com, 10 Oct. 2026 When an apparently sick one swam ashore in Orange County in September, a beachgoer used a palm frond to lift it off the sand and drop it in the sea. — Daniel Trotta, Arkansas Online, 9 Oct. 2026 That includes a robotic ray driven by light-sensitive rat heart cells in 2016 and a fish robot with human heart cells that swam on its own in 2022. — New Atlas, 3 Oct. 2026 During a July visit by the Tribune, four whales from Marineland swam alongside each other and played in an expansive tank. — Finnegan Belleau, Chicago Tribune, 23 Sep. 2026 The cast swam in the ocean every day; Buckley and O’Connor hiked the volcano every morning. — Alessandra Codinha, Vogue, 18 Sep. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for swam
  1. spun
  2. hovered
  3. sailed
  4. floated
  5. drifted
Verb
  • The cotton will be spun, woven and finished for denim programs for some of the largest fashion brands and retailers in the world.
    — Angela Velasquez, Footwear News, 23 Oct. 2026
  • In addition to the fashion show, attendees can do a F1 driving simulator, try a new color at the Tom Ford lip bar, and enjoy music spun by DJ Simone.
    — Libby Smith, CBS News, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of spun
Verb
  • Last year, global output for these complex machines hovered around just 9,600 units.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 20 Oct. 2026
  • As the military-style helicopter hovered above them, attendees from the rural, predominantly Latino community, began to get nervous.
    — Philip Wang, Time, 19 Oct. 2026
Definition of hovered
Verb
  • Needing 11 yards on fourth down to continue their drive and cut into a 23-7 Packers lead, Prescott narrowly avoided a sack before lofting a pass that sailed out the back of the end zone, not close to any particular Cowboys receiver.
    — Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026
  • Yet Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare – senior Tory politician, former athlete, bestselling novelist and bon viveur – simply sailed on.
    — The Week UK, TheWeek, 17 Oct. 2026
Definition of sailed
Verb
  • Even after Bretton Woods collapsed and many currencies floated freely, the dollar continued to dominate.
    — Zongyuan Zoe Liu, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
  • Ryanair even floated the idea of charging to use the bathroom or getting rid of seats and having passengers stand, though neither took flight.
    — Alexandra Skores, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of floated
Verb
  • For the past 15 years, Ishmael Butler and his cast of collaborators have drifted further and further into the outer reaches, deconstructing and reassembling hip-hop, jazz, and kosmische conventions into sprawling, proggy rhapsodies.
    — Dash Lewis, Pitchfork, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Meta stock plunged after the hyperscaler drifted into negative free cash flow, while China entered bear market territory with Alibaba’s stock dropping 6%, as investors questioned the return on its AI investments.
    — Brendan Ruberry, semafor.com, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of drifted

Browse Nearby Words

swallows
swam
swami
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Cite this Entry

“Swam.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/swam. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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