How do you use the word "swamp" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "swamp" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "swamp": Founding your life on illusions is like building a house on a swamp. The plague came from the swamp.

Swamp Meaning

/ˈswɒmp/

Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounAn area of wet (water-saturated), spongy (soft) land, often with trees, generally a rich ecosystem for certain plants and animals but ill-suited for many agricultural purposes. (A type of wetland. Compare marsh, bog, fen.)

nounA place or situation that is foul or where progress is difficult.

Sentence Examples

Founding your life on illusions is like building a house on a swamp.

The plague came from the swamp.

How did you fall into the swamp? Someone shoved us.

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

flood deluge

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The explorers had to cross the muddy ____ filled with dangerous snakes and alligators.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The thick and damp ____ is home to many different species of birds and several large alligators today.

Word Origin & History

Early attestations (starting in 1624) are from North America, but the term was probably in local use in Britain earlier. The etymology is not entirely certain; it is probably a fusion of Middle English swam (“swamp, muddy pool, bog, marsh”, also “fungus, mushroom”) — from Old English swamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), from Proto-West Germanic *swamm, from Proto-Germanic *swambaz, *swammaz — and Middle English sompe (“marsh, morass”), from either Middle Dutch somp, sump (“marsh, swamp”) or Middle Low German sump (“marsh, swamp”) (from Old Saxon *sump (“swamp, marsh”)), both from Proto-West Germanic *sump, from Proto-Germanic *sumpaz. *Swambaz, *swammaz and *sumpaz are likely related to each other, but it is unclear whether they are of Indo-European origin or are substrate words or wanderworts. The word has alternatively been suggested to be a borrowing from Dutch zwamp (“swamp, marsh, fen”). Other cognates include Middle Low German swamp (“sponge, mushroom”), Dutch zomp (“swamp, lake, marshy place”), German Low German Sump (“swamp, bog, marsh”), German Sumpf (“swamp”), Swedish sump (“swamp”). Related also to Dutch zwam (“fungus, punk, tinder”), German Schwamm (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Swedish svamp (“mushroom, fungus, sponge”), Icelandic svampur, sveppur (“fungus”), Gothic 𐍃𐍅𐌿𐌼𐍃𐌻 (swumsl, “a ditch”). Related to sump, swim.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"The vast swamps of Southern Ontario proved a grim nightmare to the construction gangs. Treacherous and seemingly bottomless, the swamps swallowed thousands of tons of timber and debris, yet still afforded no firm surface on which the track could be laid." — 1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Routes”, in Railway Magazine, page 128:

"We two...in this swamp of iniquity...together we can bring redress to an unjust world." — 2017, Cassandra Clark, Alchemist of Netley Abbey:

"On InfoWars, Alex Jones told his audience, "This is over the top sickening. Next they'll say Jeffrey Epstein never even existed. This is the swamp winning. No one is buying this."" — 2025 July 10, Jesus Mesa, “'We've Been Played': MAGA Faces Its Own Disappointment With Trump”, in Newsweek:

""I'm being swamped now with calls from parents and young people who are upset that there are not many options for employment this summer," he said." — 1991 May 5, Stewart Ain, “Bottom Falls Out Of Summer Job Market”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

"Mr. Spitzer’s defeat of his Democratic opponent […] ended a primary season in which Hillary Rodham Clinton swamped an antiwar challenger for renomination to the Senate." — 2006 September 13, Patrick Healy, “Spitzer and Clinton Win in N.Y. Primary”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

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