swell

The word “swell” means to grow bigger, especially by filling with fluid or gas. In plain terms, to get bigger, louder, or more intense — used for body parts, sounds, feelings, or the sea; also an old-fashioned word for "great.".

“Swell” is pronounced swehl (/swɛl/ in IPA).

Here is “swell” used in a sentence: “Her ankle began to swell after the fall.”

Depending on how it is used, “swell” can be a verb, a noun and an adjective.

The word “swell” comes from Old English. From Old English swellan, "to swell" — an ancient Germanic word with cousins in Dutch, German, and Swedish all meaning the same thing.

“Swell” is an uncommon word in modern English, usually learned at around the B1 level.

“Swell” has 4 distinct senses listed in this dictionary. The most common is: to grow bigger, especially by filling with fluid or gas.

Swell can be a verb meaning to grow bigger, especially by filling with fluid or gas, or a noun referring to a long, rolling ocean wave that continues after the wind that made it has died down. Swelling is typically the noun form describing an area of the body that has become puffy or enlarged, most often from injury or illness, functioning as the result of the swell verb applied to the body.

Swell has an informal, dated-sounding adjective sense meaning excellent or very good, a usage that was especially common in mid-twentieth-century English. This sense is unrelated to its meanings about growing bigger or ocean waves and is now used mostly in a nostalgic or old-fashioned tone.

Swell can describe something growing gradually in force, loudness, or intensity, such as music swelling to a climax or applause swelling through a room. This sense extends the core idea of gradual growth from the physical to the auditory.