noun
Meaning 1
Intense heat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- The summer swelter did not relent until late in September, most years.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
swelter
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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UK: /ˈswɛl.tə/
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US: /ˈswɛl.tɚ/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛltə(ɹ)
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CMU ARPABET: S W EH1 L T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
verb
Meaning 2
To suffer terribly from intense heat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: burn up, steam, stew
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 3
To perspire greatly from heat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sweat buckets, sweat like a pig
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To cause to faint, to overpower, as with heat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: sweb, swelt
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
suffer from intense heat
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- we were sweltering at the beach
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: sweat, sudate, perspire
verb
Meaning 6
be uncomfortably hot
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: suffer
History
Etymology
From Middle English swelteren, frequentative form of Middle English swelten (“to die; faint”), from Old English sweltan (“to die”), from Proto-West Germanic *sweltan, from Proto-Germanic *sweltaną (“to die”), from Proto-Indo-European *swel- (“to smolder; burn”), equivalent to swelt + -er (frequentative suffix).
Across languages
Translations
28 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Azerbaijani: bürkü — intense heat
- Bulgarian: жега (žega) — intense heat
- Bulgarian: зной (znoj) — intense heat
- Catalan: xafogor — intense heat
- Czech: horko — intense heat
- Czech: parno — intense heat
- Czech: pařák — intense heat
- Czech: vedro — intense heat
- Finnish: helle — intense heat
- French: canicule — intense heat
- German: Hitzewelle — intense heat
- Latvian: svelme — intense heat
- Russian: жара́ (žará) — intense heat
- Russian: зной (znoj) — intense heat
- Spanish: bochorno — intense heat
- Spanish: (Extremadura) flama — intense heat
- Czech: péci se — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Czech: pařit se — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Esperanto: sufoki — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Finnish: läkähtyä — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- French: étouffer — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Japanese: 茹だる (udaru) — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Middle English: swelten — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Russian: изнемогать от зноя (iznemogatʹ ot znoja) — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Russian: жариться (žaritʹsja) — To suffer terribly from intense heat
- Czech: potit se — To perspire greatly from heat
- German: stark schwitzen — To perspire greatly from heat
- Portuguese: suar em bicas — To perspire greatly from heat