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Definition of "swollen" []

  • A past participle of swell. (verb)
  • Expanded by or as if by internal pressure; distended: a swollen toe. (adjective)
  • Overblown; bombastic: swollen rhetoric. (adjective)

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 "swollen" in a sentence
  • "On examining the right hypochondrium, which he described as swollen, there was evident indication of an enlarged liver, and he complained much of shooting pain in that region during a paroxysm of cough."
  • ""Look at how my mouth sticks out," he said of what he described as his swollen face."
  • "His face was iced up and swollen from the protracted effort of twenty-four hours, while his hands were so swollen that he could not close the fingers."