heavy swell
- noun
- /ˈhɛvi swɛl/
- Specialized
:
oleaje fuerte
- During the storm, we had to take extra precautions because of the heavy swell that made sailing dangerous.
This thing barely works anymore in heavy, heavy swells.
- This thing barely works anymore in heavy, heavy swells.
Examples
-
It strained upward when a heavy swell washed the length of the Mackinaw.
Fiction book (1998) -
We are in the galley, the ship tolling in a moderate-to-heavy swell, the crew loud and raucous in the main cabin.
Fiction book (1995) -
The ship struggled to navigate through the heavy swell as waves crashed against its hull.
-
The heavy swell created by the approaching storm prompted a warning for all small craft in the area.
Synonyms
46
5.7
A long smooth wave on the open sea that moves steadily
12
4.4
A long heavy sea wave that rolls toward the shore
7
7.4
A large rolling wave on the sea
1
3.0
A long heavy wave in the sea that moves toward the shore
1
6.9
A long deep wave in the sea from storms far away or earthquakes
A large curling sea wave that breaks on the shore
Antonyms
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'heavy' (large/intense) modifies 'swell' (a long series of waves), yielding an intense or large undulating movement of the sea. This adjective + noun pattern is a regular, cross-linguistically common construction, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Heavy swell comes from the image of the sea slowly rising and falling in big, rolling waves. Here swell is the rising motion of the water and heavy shows it is strong and deep, so the phrase means 'large, rolling waves' that rock boats.