aswarm

1 7.9

Full of many moving things like insects or people

adjective
/əˈswɔrm/

Archaic

: abarrotado

Already the streets were aswarm with early risers.

Examples

Within minutes, the deck was aswarm with men staggering up from below, most of them looking rather the worse for wear.

Fiction book (1990)
Already the streets were aswarm with early risers.
Within minutes, the deck was aswarm with men staggering up from below.
The garden was aswarm with bees collecting pollen from the flowers.

Synonyms

crawly

vsaswarm

Informal

4 6.1

Full of small animals like insects that crawl

is less specific, not limited to crawling creatures or discomfort

buggy

vsaswarm

1 3.8

Full of small insects like mosquitoes that bite or annoy you

is broader, covering many moving things, not only insect infestations

swarmy

vsaswarm

8.7

Full of small flying insects

is broader, applying to any many moving things, not only swarms

astir

vsaswarm

Literature

7.5

Busy and moving about because people are active

describes being covered or filled with many moving things rather than activity

Antonyms

empty

∞ 1.0

Not containing anything

desolate

29 6.8

Empty and bleak with little life or shelter

How Crowded

teeming

1 4.7

aswarm

Archaic

1 7.9

crowded

222 1.0

occupied

2.4

empty

∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

aswarm positive

Morphology

aswarm = swarm (semi-transparent) = a + swarm

The prefix 'a-' suggests a state of being, but the specific sense of being 'full of' or 'covered with' is not immediately obvious.

Etymology

The word aswarm comes from the small prefix a- meaning 'in' or 'on' and the common word swarm, a large moving group like bees. So aswarm means 'full of or covered with many moving things', which is why you can say a table is aswarm with ants.