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Swamp vs Island - What's the difference?

swamp | island |

As a noun swamp

is a piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.

As a verb swamp

is to drench or fill with water.

As a proper noun island is

iceland.

swamp

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(wikipedia swamp) (en noun)
  • A piece of wet, spongy land; low ground saturated with water; soft, wet ground which may have a growth of certain kinds of trees, but is unfit for agricultural or pastoral purposes.
  • A type of wetland that stretches for vast distances, and is home to many creatures who have adapted specifically to that environment.
  • Derived terms

    * swamp gum * swampland * swamp wallaby * swampy

    See also

    * bog * marsh * moor

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To drench or fill with water.
  • The boat was swamped in the storm.
  • To overwhelm; to make too busy, or overrun the capacity of.
  • I have been swamped with paperwork ever since they started using the new system.
  • * 2006 , New York Times,
  • Mr. Spitzer’s defeat of his Democratic opponent ... ended a primary season in which Hillary Rodham Clinton swamped an antiwar challenger for renomination to the Senate.
  • (figurative) To plunge into difficulties and perils; to overwhelm; to ruin; to wreck.
  • * J. R. Green
  • The Whig majority of the house of Lords was swamped by the creation of twelve Tory peers.
  • * W. Hamilton
  • Having swamped himself in following the ignis fatuus of a theory

    island

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (nonstandard) * (l), (l), (l) (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A contiguous area of land, smaller than a continent, totally surrounded by water.
  • * 2002 , Gordon L. Rottman, World War 2 Pacific island guide
  • Sumatra is the second largest island in the East Indies and the fourth largest in the world covering 182,859 square miles.
  • An entity surrounded by other entities that are very different from itself.
  • an island of tranquility (a calm place surrounded by a noisy environment)
    an island of colour on a butterfly's wing
  • * 1939 , Deseret News, October 27 1939, Roosevelt Reaffirms American Neutrality
  • King Leopold, speaking in fluent English during his six minute broadcast, said Belgium stood side by side with Holland "an Island of peace in the interests of all"
  • A superstructure on an aircraft carrier's deck.
  • (chiefly, UK) A traffic island.
  • the island in the middle of a roundabout

    Synonyms

    * (land surrounded by water) (l), (l) * (an entity surrounded by other very different entities) oasis

    Derived terms

    * coney island * desert island * floating island * heat island * high island * interisland * islander * island dispenser * island display * island-hop * island position * island state * island universe * islandwide * islandy * low island * no man is an island * safety island * security island * the Island * sea-island * tidal island

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To surround with water; make into an island
  • * 1933 , Harriet Monroe, Poetry: Volume 42
  • We paused at little river cities along the way and walked upon their bushy dikes, and heard tales of overflows in flood seasons, when four feet or more of water islanded the houses.
  • To set, dot (as if) with islands
  • To isolate
  • * , (A Shropshire Lad), XXVII, lines 1-2
  • ''High the vanes of (Shrewsbury) gleam
    Islanded in Severn stream''.

    Synonyms

    * (l)

    See also

    * archipelago * atoll * cay, key * continent * peninsula

    Statistics

    * 1000 English basic words ----