SWAMP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does swamp mean? 

• SWAMP (noun)
  The noun SWAMP has 2 senses:

1. low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog

2. a situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables

  Familiarity information: SWAMP used as a noun is rare.

• SWAMP (verb)
  The verb SWAMP has 2 senses:

1. drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

2. fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid

  Familiarity information: SWAMP used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SWAMP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

swamp; swampland

Hypernyms ("swamp" is a kind of...):

wetland (a low area where the land is saturated with water)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "swamp"):

slough (a stagnant swamp (especially as part of a bayou))

Instance hyponyms:

Everglades (a large subtropical swamp in southern Florida that is noted for its wildlife)

Okefenokee Swamp (a large swampy area of northeast Florida and southeast Georgia)

Derivation:

swamp (drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged)

swampy ((of soil) soft and watery)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A situation fraught with difficulties and imponderables

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

he was trapped in a medical swamp

Hypernyms ("swamp" is a kind of...):

situation (a complex or critical or unusual difficulty)

• SWAMP (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they swamp    ... he / she / it swamps   
Past simple: swamped   
Past participle: swamped   
-ing form: swamping   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

drench; swamp

Context example:

The tsunami swamped every boat in the harbor

Hypernyms (to "swamp" is one way to...):

flood (cover with liquid, usually water)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something ----s something

Derivation:

swamp (low land that is seasonally flooded; has more woody plants than a marsh and better drainage than a bog)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

deluge; flood; inundate; swamp

Context example:

The images flooded his mind

Hypernyms (to "swamp" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something with something

 Context examples 

Twice we found pits of blue clay, such as we had already seen in the swamp of the pterodactyls.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Not without swamping the boat,” said he.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

In consequence it held the boat bow on to the sea and wind—the safest position in which to escape being swamped when the sea is breaking into whitecaps.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In most developed countries, the ubiquitous presence of artificial lights creates a luminous fog that swamps the stars and constellations of the night sky.

(Milky Way now hidden from a third of humanity, NOAA)

It is a swamp adder! cried Holmes; the deadliest snake in India.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A flood of associations, visions of various ways he had made the acquaintance of women, rushed into his mind and threatened to swamp it.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"This parlour is not his sphere," I reflected: the Himalayan ridge or Caffre bush, even the plague-cursed Guinea Coast swamp would suit him better.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

This putrid "swamp gas" is also highly flammable and reactive with particles in our atmosphere.

(Poisonous Earthly Molecule May Be Sign of Extraterrestrial Life, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

As a result, alligators' use of salty environments such as near-shore marine areas, mangrove swamps and salt marshes was, until recently, thought of as unusual behavior and of little ecological importance.

(Alligators, rulers of the swamps, link marine and freshwater ecosystems, NSF)

Protecting marine life could help the oceans to function better, soaking up more carbon and providing barriers against sea level rises and storm surges, in the form of coral reefs and mangrove swamps.

(Oceans running out of oxygen at unprecedented rate, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)