Link Centre Dictionary

Also Inflected form of swell

swollen

swol·len

UK/ˈswəʊ.lən/ US/ˈswɒ.lən/ fairly common

adjective

1.

abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas

  • “hungry children with bloated stomachs”
  • “he had a grossly distended stomach”
  • “eyes with puffed (or puffy) lids”
  • “swollen hands”
  • “tumescent tissue”
  • “puffy tumid flesh”
2.

abnormally expanded or increased in size; (`swollen'' is sometimes used in combination)

  • “distended wineskins”
  • “the need to clean out swollen inventories”
  • “the raisins were plump and soft and swollen from being soaked”
  • “huge blood-swollen mosquitoes”
Synonyms
Similar
3.

characteristic of false pride; having an exaggerated sense of self-importance

  • “a conceited fool”
  • “an attitude of self-conceited arrogance”
  • “an egotistical disregard of others”
  • “so swollen by victory that he was unfit for normal duty”
  • “growing ever more swollen-headed and arbitrary”
  • “vain about her clothes”
4.

overfull with water

  • “swollen rivers and creeks”

Origin

From Middle English swollen, i-swolle, y-swolle, yswolle, ȝeswollen, from Old English swollen, ġeswollen, from Proto-Germanic *swullanaz, past participle of Proto-Germanic *swellaną (“to swell”). Cognate with West Frisian swollen (“swollen”), Dutch gezwollen (“swollen”), German geschwollen (“swollen”), Swedish svullen (“swollen”).

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.