SWELLS Synonyms: 189 Similar and Opposite Words

swells 1 of 2

noun

plural of swell

as in projections

a part that sticks out from the general mass of something the graceful swell of the bottle was meant to be evocative of the female figure

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as in waves

a moving ridge on the surface of water huge swells overwhelmed the tiny craft

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swells

2 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of swell

as in increases

to become greater in extent, volume, amount, or number the club membership has really swelled in recent months

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as in expands

to make greater in size, amount, or number more layoffs will swell the ranks of the unemployed to unprecedented levels

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as in protrudes

to extend outward beyond a usual point at that point the Congo River swells and forms Malebo Pool

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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 swells

Noun

Due to changing storm patterns, the kelp forests are also battered by more damaging winter swells, according to Scripps associate researcher Ed Parnell. — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026 Rachel’s swells are expected to generate life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions off Mexico’s coast, the NHC warned. — Fabiola Sanchez, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026 The surf-worthy Pacific swells provide excellent conditions for paddling out and riding waves. — Staff Author, Travel + Leisure, 17 Sep. 2026 The remnants of that storm also are causing big swells of waves in the ocean, and those are expected to keep having an impact on Bay Area beaches. — Rick Hurd, Mercury News, 8 Sep. 2026

Verb

Friday, the high tide in San Diego and La Jolla was coming in 17 inches higher than the official prediction, which doesn’t account for hotter-than-normal ocean waters or swells from tropical storms, according to NOAA’s tide forecasts. — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 10 Oct. 2026 Music, which has been the constant all-consuming river of his life, swells him into an adventure that will change him forever. — Jordan Moreau, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026 But when an event swells to the size of a city — the New York City Marathon had nearly 60,000 finishers last year — climate risk is no longer solely a personal matter. — Vibhu Krishna, STAT, 2 Oct. 2026 There is an art to stylizing a position of interrogation in excess of its biomechanics, an art to how lockstep beats a cadence while a unit swells into an enveloping arc. — Sophie Landres, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2026 Preceding the increase in temperatures has been an increase in the size of the wave swells in the Pacific Ocean. — Rick Hurd, Mercury News, 28 Sep. 2026 The space suddenly swells with agents, assistants, clients and others shuffling through for lunch. — Oren Peleg, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026 The impact jostled loose a few petals before the circle of blossoms slowly drifted away on the luminescent blue Bermudian swells. — Literary Hub, 11 Sep. 2026 How levees work Levees are earthen embankments positioned parallel to a river that effectively raise the height of the banks of the river to prevent overflow when the river swells. — Kaleigh Yost, The Conversation, 10 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for swells

Noun

With the installation of new, high efficiency HVAC units and an upgrade to the building automation system, there are significant projections of an increase in efficiency and control.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 6 Oct. 2026
Geoff warns Ilya to moderate his projections, emphasizing the need for safeguards, but the idealistic Russian is swept up in the vast potential of AI — to solve the climate crisis, cure cancer, even save humanity from itself.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of projections

Noun

In Long Beach, waves breached a bulkhead, flooding homes and nearby streets, according to the Long Beach Post and videos posted online.

— N. Kirkpatrick, Washington Post, 9 Oct. 2026
Surges can reach as much as 20 feet or more and that does not include waves, which are on top of storm surge.

— ABC News, ABC News, 9 Oct. 2026

Definition of waves

Verb

That’s harder to find in fashion these days, as the comparable speed of digital culture increases trend turnover and even algorithmic advertising struggles to keep up with what looking empirically cool means.

— Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 6 Oct. 2026
While productivity increases dramatically, consumption often grows even faster.

— Sudipto Dasgupta, Forbes.com, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of increases

Verb

In April 2026, the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee found that advanced AI had not yet been adopted in a way that presented systemic risk but warned that risks could increase rapidly as deployment expands.

— Swati Deepak Kumar, Forbes.com, 6 Oct. 2026
The new law expands California’s definition of who is a resident under state sales tax law in an effort to weed out phony shell companies, making a company liable for state taxes when at least one member of the business is a California resident.

— Suhauna Hussain, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of expands

Verb

Ping Ping, the male, has dark black circles around his eyes, while Fu Shuang, the female, has a forehead that protrudes a bit, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

— ABC News, ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026
Other animals on-site include a stable full of horses and Cowboy the tortoise, who is about the size of a lawnmower and whose head protrudes from what looks like a Venus flytrap made of bone.

— Emma Madden, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of protrudes

Noun

Bra bands that dig in and have minimal side coverage can create bulges under your tops and dresses, but this under-$20 Warners style does the opposite, according to shoppers.

— Jeaneen Russell, PEOPLE, 2 Sep. 2026
During matches earlier this year, bulges could be seen in the shoulder seams on jerseys for teams including France and Uruguay, the Guardian reported.

— Claire Rush, Fortune, 28 June 2026

Definition of bulges

Verb

As the cost of petrochemical feedstocks for virgin synthetics rises by as much as 60 percent or more, the price difference between virgin and bio-based options is getting smaller.

— Arthur Zaczkiewicz, Footwear News, 5 Oct. 2026
As atmospheric carbon rises to levels beyond precedent in human history and consequently raises the global temperature to levels unprecedented on the human scale, the importance of places where carbon is sequestered becomes ever greater.

— Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 5 Oct. 2026

Definition of rises

Verb

Communities are being asked to do more with less as climate change accelerates, and the skills needed to care for these places are being lost.

— Francesca Aton, ARTnews.com, 2 Oct. 2026
This swelling warps the battery’s internal structure and accelerates degradation, making large-format cells unsafe and short-lived.

— Aman Tripathi, Interesting Engineering, 2 Oct. 2026