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swarm

swarm

42 3.4
A large group of insects or people moving together without control
  • noun
  • /swɔrm/
translation icon : enjambre (de insectos)
  • The farmer noticed a swarm of locusts approaching his crops.
  • a swarm of bees
  • a swarm of insects
  • move in swarms

A library humming like a swarm of gnats.

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Examples

  • We made contact with a whole swarm of Messerschmitts.

  • Swarms of giant bees filled the air.

  • All right, look at that whole swarm of them just down here.

  • My goal is to have a swarm of fish all around me.

  • And like, it gets lost in the swarm of bees, right?

  • Like a swarm of locusts.

  • The ship was passing through a meteor swarm when its shields suddenly failed.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • "Pellaeon could see the fighters now, coming at them like a swarm of angry insects."

    Fiction book (1991)
  • Swarms of United States aircraft fly in formation overhead as the ceremony ends.

  • Along Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles, businesses have to deal with daily swarms of paparazzi.

    Academic text (2013)

Synonyms

crowd
vsswarm
1.0

Many people or things are close together in one place

is about active, moving groups rather than people simply gathered
herd
vsswarm
142 1.0

A large group of the same kind of animals that stay or move together

is focused on busy, often uncontrolled movement rather than stable animal grouping
cloud
vsswarm
102 1.0

A large group of small things moving together in the air

is a moving group that is busy and often uncontrolled
horde
vsswarm
68 3.4

A large moving group of people or animals that seems hard to control and overwhelming

is more about busy, uncontrolled movement than just being overwhelming
drove
vsswarm
31 3.5

A large group of animals or people moving together

is mainly about hectic, uncontrolled motion rather than neutral group travel

Compounds

1 5.5

A large group of locusts that move together and eat crops

meteor swarm
  • Specialized
8.0

A group of small rocks in space that travel together

9.9

A large group of very small, almost invisible biting insects that cause itchy bites

How Large

multitude
38 4.4
horde
68 3.4
swarm
42 3.4
crowd
1.0
group
1.0

Surface Forms

swarm singular
swarms plural

Etymology

Swarm comes from an old Germanic word that meant 'move together in a crowd', and you can see the same idea in German Schwarm and Dutch zwerm. So a swarm is a large, busy group of insects, people, or things moving together.