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✋ A fast hit 🪰 To hit quickly 🚔 To call police prank
to swat

to swat

26 2.3
To hit something quickly with your hand to kill or drive away an insect
  • verb
  • /swɑt/
translation icon : dar un manotazo
  • The owner walked right over to the cheese to swat at the flies.
  • swat flies
  • swat mosquitoes
  • swat away

My little brother threw something at my head and got swatted on the backside for it.

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Examples

  • The Central Committee man shook him off like a man swatting a fly.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • Okay, so swat it with your hand. - Okay, okay.

    Hell of a Summer (2023)

  • I'm not even gonna swat that fly.

    Psycho (1960)

  • Insects crawl over his face; he makes no effort to swat them away.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Alex arced his arm as if he had to swat a fly out of his eyes and walked away.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The M.E. was waving his hands over his head, swatting at a fly.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Occasionally, one of them dropped her pole and hopped about, swatting at the air while others laughed.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Instead, they could swat flies, carry sacks of grain, and bury the dead by the hundredfold.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • The repetitive creak of the barrow halts as Grayden stops to swat greenhead flies.

    Academic text (1994)

  • He quickly swatted the fly away before it could land on his food.

Synonyms

to hit
vsto swat
∞ 1.0

To strike someone or something with force

is more narrowly an immediate hand swipe to kill or chase small insects
to strike
vsto swat
553 2.4

To hit someone or something with force

is specific to quick, forceful insect removal rather than general blows
to slap
vsto swat
492 1.0

Hit quickly with the flat part of the hand

is aimed specifically at killing or driving away small insects quickly
to swack
vsto swat
  • Archaic
1 9.9

To hit someone or something hard

focuses on quick, small-target action to kill or repel insects

Compounds

SWAT team
  • US
49 3.9

A group of police trained to handle dangerous incidents like hostage situations

SWAT team
  • Jargon
1 3.8

A small team from different departments sent to fix urgent problems quickly

Sultan of Swat
8.0

A nickname for Babe Ruth, a famous baseball player who hit many home runs

SWAT squad
  • US
5.8

A police team trained to handle violent, dangerous events like armed standoffs or hostage crises

How Forceful

to smash
311 2.1
to whack
250 5.5
to hit
∞ 1.0
to swat
26 2.3
to tap
174 1.0
to pat
110 1.0

Surface Forms

swat infinitive
swatted past
swatted past participle
swatting present participle
swats third person singular

Etymology

Swat is an old sound word that copies the quick, sharp action and noise of a hit, like the short slap you make to stop a mosquito, so to swat something is to hit or slap it quickly to kill or drive it away.