Meaning & use
swarming
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“swarming” is a form of “swarm”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
verbintransitive
Moving together in a large, dense group, as insects or people do.
Grammar: No object; often followed by a direction: bees swarming around the hive.
Patterns
- swarming around something
- swarming into something
- swarming over something
Flies were swarming around the picnic table as soon as we opened the food.
Fans were swarming into the stadium an hour before the game.
Children came swarming out of the school gates at three o'clock.
adjectiveafter a verb
Completely full of moving creatures or people, used in the pattern 'swarming with'.
Grammar: Appears after a form of be, with a following with: the market was swarming with shoppers.
Patterns
- be swarming with something
The park was swarming with joggers on the first sunny morning of spring.
After the flood, the cellar was swarming with insects.
The old harbor is swarming with tourists every August.
noununcountablebiologytechnical
In beekeeping and biology, the way a colony splits when a large group leaves the hive with a queen to found a new nest.
Grammar: Used without an or an: swarming usually happens in late spring.
Patterns
- swarming of something
Swarming is how honeybee colonies reproduce at the colony level.
Beekeepers add extra space to the hive to reduce the chance of swarming.
Early swarming this year worried the local beekeepers.
Common combinations
- swarming with tourists
- The old town was swarming with tourists during the festival.
- swarming around
- Reporters were swarming around the mayor as she left the building.
- bees swarming
- We watched bees swarming on a tree branch before they moved on.
- swarming over
- Ants were swarming over the fallen apple.
- prevent swarming
- A larger hive can help prevent swarming.
Synonyms and how they differ
- teeming
- Teeming is usually used about a place full of life, as in teeming with fish, and sounds a little more descriptive and less annoying than swarming.
- crowding
- Crowding applies to people or animals pressing close, but it lacks the buzzing, rapid movement that swarming suggests.
- thronging
- Thronging is mainly for people and sounds more formal or literary than swarming.
- flocking
- Flocking suggests a willing, shared movement toward something, often birds or visitors, whereas swarming often feels dense and chaotic.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: swarming or swamping? swarming or storming?
swarming vs swamping
Swamping means flooding or overwhelming something, as in swamping a boat with water. Swarming is about a crowd moving.
swarming vs storming
Storming means attacking or rushing in forcefully. Swarming is dense movement and need not be hostile.
Practice
Choose the correct preposition: By noon the beach was swarming ___ people.
Choose one answer.
The adjective pattern is swarming with, meaning full of. 'Of' is tempting because it also shows content, but it does not combine with swarming.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “swarming”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.