Meaning & use
we are swamped
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Meaning
phrasefixed phraseinformal
Used to say that you or your group are overwhelmed with a very large amount of work, requests, or things to handle.
Grammar: This is a full sentence with the pronoun 'we'. You can change 'we' to other pronouns: I am swamped, they are swamped.
Patterns
- be swamped with something
- be swamped by something
- we are swamped
Sorry for the slow reply — we are swamped with orders this week.
We are swamped at the moment, so we can't take on any new projects.
After the sale, we were swamped with phone calls from customers.
Common combinations
- swamped with work
- I can't meet today; I'm swamped with work.
- swamped with requests
- The help desk was swamped with requests after the update.
- completely swamped
- We were completely swamped during the holiday season.
Synonyms and how they differ
- overwhelmed
- This is slightly more formal and can also describe feelings; 'swamped' is more about too much work or too many things to do.
- snowed under
- This is a British informal phrase with a very similar meaning, often used for paperwork or emails.
- inundated
- This is more formal and often used in business writing; it can also mean flooded with water.
Opposites
Word family
- swamp verb
- To overwhelm someone with too much of something.
- swamped adjective
- Having too much to deal with.
Commonly confused: we are swamped or swamp?
we are swamped vs swamp
As a noun, a swamp is an area of wet, muddy land. The verb 'swamp' means to overwhelm, which is the meaning here.
Practice
We are swamped ______ emails after the announcement.
Choose one answer.
The correct preposition is 'with' when talking about a large amount of something: swamped with emails. 'By' can also be used but usually with a passive agent (swamped by requests), not with a simple object like 'emails'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “we are swamped”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.