Standard Lemma guide

sweltering

adj · noun · verb · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • CMU ARPABET: S W EH1 L T ER0 IH0 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

hot and humid; oppressively sticky

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The day was sweltering, so Lauren put on the shortest pair of shorts she could find and went to get ice-cream with her friend Rob.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The situation of being or feeling hot and humid.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • March 11 1932, Northrop Frye, notebook It is truly a long way from Augustine's ultra-violet perspicacity to our swelterings in the intolerably sapping infra-red, but we are constantly plunging into deeper and deeper black and may rest our eyes in peace sometime.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

present participle and gerund of swelter

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: form-of, gerund, participle, present

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adjective satellite

Meaning 4

excessively hot and humid or marked by sweating and faintness

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a sweltering room
  • sweltering athletes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: sweltry

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From swelter + -ing.

Across languages

Translations

18 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: зноен (znoen) — hot and humid
  • Catalan: xafogós — hot and humid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 悶熱 /闷热的 (mēnrè) — hot and humid
  • Chinese Mandarin: 闷热的 (mēnrè) — hot and humid
  • Dutch: bloedheet — hot and humid
  • Esperanto: sufoka — hot and humid
  • French: étouffant — hot and humid
  • German: drückend heiß — hot and humid
  • German: glühend heiß — hot and humid
  • German: verschmachtend — hot and humid
  • Russian: знойный (znojnyj) — hot and humid
  • Spanish: sofocante — hot and humid
  • Spanish: abrasador — hot and humid
  • Spanish: bochornoso — hot and humid
  • Swedish: stekhet — hot and humid
  • Turkish: aşırı sıcak — hot and humid
  • Turkish: bunaltıcı — hot and humid
  • Turkish: çok sıcak — hot and humid