Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

swarm

[swawrm]

Example Sentences Origin

noun

a body of honeybees that emigrate from a hive and fly off together, accompanied by a queen, to start a new colony.

a body of bees settled together, as in a hive.

a great number of things or persons, especially in motion.

Biology. a group or aggregation of free-floating or free-swimming cells or organisms.

Geology. a cluster of earthquakes or other geologic phenomena or features.

verb (used without object)

to fly off together in a swarm, as bees.

to move about, along, forth, etc., in great numbers, as things or persons.

to congregate, hover, or occur in groups or multitudes; be exceedingly numerous, as in a place or area.

(of a place) to be thronged or overrun; abound or teem: The beach swarms with children on summer weekends.

10.

Biology. to move or swim about in a swarm.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Swarm is always a great word to know.

So is life history. Does it mean:

the series of living phenomena exhibited by an organism in the course of its development from inception to death

any modern theory of evolution holding that species evolve by natural selection acting on genetic variation

LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used with object)

11.

to swarm about, over, or in; throng; overrun.

12.

to produce a swarm of.

Origin:
before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English swearm; cognate with German Schwarm swarm, Old Norse svarmr tumult; (v.) Middle English swarmen, derivative of the noun

Related forms

swarm·er, noun

Synonyms
3. horde, host, mass. See crowd¹.

Example Sentences

Couzin had predicted would allow the entire swarm to go as fast as.

Inside the gallery a swarm of retailers, bloggers and editors angled to find seats with a good view of the models.

The study of swarm intelligence is providing insights that can help humans manage complex.

EXPAND

Couzin had predicted would allow the entire swarm to go as fast as.

Inside the gallery a swarm of retailers, bloggers and editors angled to find seats with a good view of the models.

The study of swarm intelligence is providing insights that can help humans manage complex.

The blue orchards rarely sting and, because of their solitary nature, do not swarm.

Mosquitoes swarm at night, and nobody has come to spray with insecticide.

Sometimes a beehive will swarm in succession until it is almost totally depleted of workers.

They also randomly swarm and try to overwhelm online sites and forums they consider annoying.

In a subsequent paragraph you say it was a swarm of yellow jackets that flew out of the woods and attacked the plaintiff.

In fact, the swarm of private-equity firms is doing the economy some good.

See what happens when this swarm pushes the lake to the breaking point.

Bees could be trained, through altered feeding habits, to swarm a vehicle packed with dynamite.

We're hoping they didn't swarm already, leaving behind this new queen.

Equip a swarm of these with lasers and it's all over for mankind.

There will also be a swarm of other booksellers to choose from.

Tourists now swarm through the old mission's whitewashed buildings.

The study of swarm intelligence is providing insights that can help humans manage complex systems, from truck.

For a crystal to turn to liquid, it seems that a type of swarm intelligence causes atoms to move all at once and in sync.

They pulse across the screen in a mesmerizing swarm that seems to underscore the internet's function as a universal copy machine.

Experts believe the wastewater disposal wells are connected to a recent swarm of earthquakes.

By all accounts, the battlefield of the future could resemble nothing more than a swarm of mechanical locusts.

The ants then stretch their prey out flat and sting them to death before they are carved up by a swarm of nest mates.

It would probably appear to them not unlike a large swarm of insects.

Moments after an adorable canine trots into a war-torn swarm of soldiers, all hell breaks loose.

They are a swarm of quick-moving and plotting groups who win by disruption.

They smell horrid, are in advance stage of decay, and owe their allegiance to a hive mind which masterminds swarm attacks.

People swarm here to visit museums, protest injustice, or simply play.

Enough rainfall produces a swarm condition where larvae breed.

Actual battles offer nail-biting action, forcing you to make split-second decisions as helicopters swarm through the air.

Workers in hard hats swarm above and beneath the ships.

They focused on the mixed-species parties of birds that follow swarm raids of army ants.

Counterinsurgency theory urges commanders to swarm troops into dense population centers in order to win crucial local support.

At one end of the room, two steel doors slide back and for th, allowing a swarm of visitors to enter every day at noon.

The insect armies swarm intrusive browsers in exchange for housing and food.

But an unanticipated swarm of bees brings this little morality play to a sudden and painful conclusion for all concerned.

Because what they actually do is, swarm the hornet and smother it to death.

They could swarm through places and clean up all the trash.

The swarm of scientists they have investigating the corpse have questions upon questions upon questions.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object), verb (used without object)

to climb by clasping with the legs and hands or arms and drawing oneself up; shin.

Origin:
1540–50; origin uncertain

Link To swarm

Collins

World English Dictionary

swarm¹ (swɔːm)

—n
1.	a group of social insects, esp bees led by a queen, that has left the parent hive in order to start a new colony
2.	a large mass of small animals, esp insects
3.	a throng or mass, esp when moving or in turmoil

—vb (when intr, often foll by with)
4.	(intr) (of small animals, esp bees) to move in or form a swarm
5.	(intr) to congregate, move about or proceed in large numbers
6.	to overrun or be overrun (with): the house swarmed with rats
7.	(tr) to cause to swarm

[Old English swearm; related to Old Norse svarmr uproar, Old High German swaram swarm]

swarm² (swɔːm)

—vb (when intr, usually foll by up)
	to climb (a ladder, etc) by gripping with the hands and feet: the boys swarmed up the rigging

[C16: of unknown origin]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

swarm

"cloud of bees or other insects," O.E. swearm, from P.Gmc. *swarmaz (cf. O.S., M.L.G. swarm, Swed. svärm, M.Du. swerm, O.H.G. swarm, Ger. Schwarm "swarm;" O.N. svarmr "tumult"), usually derived from PIE imitative base *swer- (see susurration) on notion of humming

EXPAND

sound. But OED suggests possible connection with base of swerve and ground sense of "agitated, confused, or deflected motion." The verb meaning "to leave a hive to start another" is first recorded c.1380, from the noun.

swarm

"to climb by clasping with the arms and legs alternately," 1550, perhaps originally a sailors' word, of uncertain origin. Also recorded as swarve (16c.) and in Northern dialects swarble, swarmle.

COLLAPSE

Word Dynamo By Dictionary.com

Searching for swarm?
How many words do you actually know?

FIND OUT

meteor shower meteor swarm overrun swarm cell troop

Matching Quote

"As night returns bringing doubts
That swarm around the sleeper's head
But are fended off with clubs and knives ..."

-John Ashbery

Partners:Word Bloglines Citysearch The Daily Beast Ask Answers Ask Kids Life123 Sendori Thesaurus

About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help