Definitions, Translations, and Word of the Day
Definition of "swell" []
- To increase in size or volume as a result of internal pressure; expand. (verb-intransitive)
- To increase in force, size, number, or degree: Membership in the club swelled. (verb-intransitive)
- To grow in loudness or intensity: "The din in front swelled to a tremendous chorus” ( Stephen Crane). (verb-intransitive)
- To bulge out, as a sail. (verb-intransitive)
- To rise or extend above the surrounding level, as clouds. (verb-intransitive)
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.
Use "swell" in a sentence
- "* I have decided that "swell" is the word for February."
- "From the head of the lawn, on the first soft swell from the valley-level, looked down the deep-porched, many-windowed house."
- "To let his brain swell and keep the blood flowing, thereby preventing the damage from worsening, doctors removed virtually the entire left side of his skull, a procedure known as a craniectomy."