Synonyms of swarms

swarms 1 of 3

noun

plural of swarm

as in throngs

a great number of persons or creatures massed together

a swarm of tourists descends upon the island every summer

Synonyms & Similar Words

• throngs
• hordes
• flocks
• crowds
• masses
• multitudes
• legions
• masses
• armies
• mobs
• droves
• herds
• millions
• bikes
• hosts
• crushes
• routs
• crams
• presses
• rabbles
• gaggles
• piles
• riffraffs
• rabblements
• scrums
• heaps
• mountains
• jams
• logjams

swarms

2 of 3

verb (1)

present tense third-person singular of swarm

1

as in flocks

to move upon or fill (something) in great numbers

meeting little resistance, the pirates swarmed the decks of the merchant ship

Synonyms & Similar Words

• flocks
• crowds
• invades
• throngs
• mobs
• jams
• infests
• overruns
• besets
• clogs
• plugs (up)
• obstructs
• dams

2

as in bursts

to be copiously supplied

at this time of year that Mexican resort swarms with college students on spring break

Synonyms & Similar Words

• bursts
• buzzes
• teems
• bulges
• abounds
• hums
• crawls
• overflows
• bristles
• brims
• bustles
• pullulates

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• needs
• wants
• lacks

swarms

3 of 3

verb (2)

present tense third-person singular of swarm

as in climbs

to move (as up or over something) often with the help of the hands in holding or pulling

one of the physical challenges had competitors swarming over a pile of logs

Synonyms & Similar Words

• climbs
• scrambles
• clambers
• scrabbles
• shinnies
• scales
• ascends
• breasts
• surmounts
• shins
• shimmies
• summits
• struggles
• sprawls
• claws
• skins
• mounts
• free-climbs
• gets up

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of swarms

Noun

As these dense swarms drift into coastal waters, intake pumps pull them directly into the cooling machinery. — Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 12 Aug. 2026

Ultimately, swarms of AI could combine in rather disconcerting and dangerous ways. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026

When the swarms return home, popular Crescent Beach feels like a private playground. — Lindsay Cohn, Travel + Leisure, 9 Aug. 2026

Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, says families have had to deal with swarms of flies, rodents and strong odors from the roughly 85 million pounds of rotten food left behind after the fire. — Chelsea Hylton, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2026

The toads had gone rogue, consuming native frogs, birds, insects, small marsupials, even Ping-Pong balls and cigarette butts flicked toward them at pubs—almost everything except the swarms of sugarcane beetles they had been imported to feed on. — Kimon De Greef, Longreads, 4 Aug. 2026

Human control and drone swarms The drone strike kits would also enable SkyFall’s Shrike drones to receive future software updates that could enable a single human operator to command an autonomous swarm of drones to attack targets. — Jeremy Hsu, ArsTechnica, 3 Aug. 2026

Knowing this, Russia will continue its port attacks with both missiles and swarms of drones, offering insurers no reason to lower premiums and shipowners no incentive to return. — Ian Bremmer, Time, 31 July 2026

The swarms of flies that roamed the planet like a devouring fog enclosed the top of the tower, building new, shivering walls, buzzing in a frenzy of life and hunger. — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 27 July 2026

Verb

Before the gaggle of girls swarms her apartment, there’s a sweet moment when Steve drops his daughter off early, and the two divorcees engage in some flirty banter over pizza prep. — Erin Qualey, Vulture, 17 June 2026

On the opposite corner, a herd of schoolchildren swarms a local television reporter. — Kristian Winfield, New York Daily News, 8 June 2026

Washington swarms with health specialists. — Literary Hub, 23 Mar. 2026

The unapologetically lurid tale of two families locked in an ever-complex cat’s cradle of class resentments and adulterous power plays also swarms with queen bees and jaw-droppingly muscular men that feel straight out of the Real Housewives playbook. — Bloomberg, Mercury News, 22 Jan. 2026

Launching swarms mid-air The aircraft was publicly displayed for the first time at Airshow China in Zhuhai in 2024, where Chinese broadcasters highlighted its potential military functions. — Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 11 Dec. 2025