Definition of "groundswell" []

• A sudden gathering of force, as of public opinion: a groundswell of antiwar sentiment. (noun)
• A broad deep undulation of the ocean, often caused by a distant storm or an earthquake. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "To convey these values, the Obama campaign claims to be taking grass-roots organizing to a new level, harnessing what they describe as a groundswell of enthusiasm."
• "The SACBC also called attention to what it described as a groundswell of discontent building up in the coloured community especially in the Western and Northern Cape."
• "The column is about how there is a so-called groundswell to President Obama's alleged"