sweltering
adjective, noun, verb
sweltering is spelled S-W-E-L-T-E-R-I-N-G: 10 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sweltering means “hot and humid; oppressively sticky” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sweltering?
| Letters | 10: S-W-E-L-T-E-R-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 47,073rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sweltering?
Sweltering appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sweltering?
Sweltering has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of sweltering
- swelterings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sweltering mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
hot and humid; oppressively sticky
The day was sweltering, so Lauren put on the shortest pair of shorts she could find and went to get ice-cream with her friend Rob.
noun
- 1
The situation of being or feeling hot and humid.
March 11 1932, Northrop Frye, notebook It is truly a long way from Augustine's ultra-violet perspicacity to our swelterings in the intolerably sapping infra-red, but we are constantly plunging into deeper and deeper black and may rest our e
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of swelter
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sweltering in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense hot and humid:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | étouffant |
| German | drückend heiß, glühend heiß, verschmachtend |
| Spanish | sofocante, abrasador, bochornoso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sweltering come from?
From swelter + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).