Meaning & use
swarm
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Meanings
nouncountable
A large group of insects, especially bees, flying or moving together.
Grammar: Countable: a swarm of bees, two swarms of locusts.
Patterns
- a swarm of something
A swarm of bees settled on the branch of the apple tree.
The picnic was ruined by a swarm of mosquitoes.
Locust swarms destroyed the crops across the region.
nouncountablefigurative
A large crowd of people or things moving or gathered closely together.
Grammar: Countable and figurative: a swarm of reporters.
Patterns
- a swarm of something
A swarm of reporters waited outside the courthouse.
We were met by a swarm of children asking for sweets.
A swarm of drones lit up the night sky during the show.
verbintransitive
To move in a large, dense group, or to fill a place in great numbers.
Grammar: No object; often with with: the beach swarmed with tourists.
Patterns
- swarm with something
- swarm into something
- swarm around something
Fans swarmed around the singer as she left the hotel.
The market was swarming with shoppers on Saturday.
Ants swarmed over the fallen piece of fruit.
Word forms
| plural | swarms |
|---|---|
| third person singular | swarms |
| past tense | swarmed |
| past participle | swarmed |
| -ing form | swarming |
Common combinations
- a swarm of bees
- A swarm of bees hung from the roof.
- swarm with people
- The square swarmed with people on New Year's Eve.
- swarm around
- Photographers swarmed around the actor.
- a swarm of locusts
- A swarm of locusts darkened the sky.
- swarm into
- Fans swarmed into the stadium.
Synonyms and how they differ
- throng
- Throng is a more formal word for a large crowd of people and cannot be used for insects.
- horde
- Horde is often critical and suggests a noisy, uncontrolled crowd.
- flock
- Flock describes birds or sheep, or people moving as a group, and is calmer than swarm.
- teem
- Teem as a verb means to be full of moving creatures, and it needs the preposition with, unlike swarm.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: swarm or swam?
swarm vs swam
Swam is the past tense of swim and is pronounced differently. Swarm is a crowd of insects or people.
Practice
As soon as the doors opened, shoppers began to ___ into the store looking for bargains.
Choose one answer.
Swarm suggests a dense, eager crowd moving together. Drift, creep, and tiptoe describe slow or quiet movement and do not fit a rush of shoppers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “swarm”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.