swamped

1. 1
   adjectivecolloquial

   Extremely busy, with more work or demands than one can easily handle.

   The accounting team is swamped every April, so expect slow replies.

   I'd love to help, but I'm completely swamped until Friday.

   Similaroverwhelmed, inundated, overloaded, busy, slammed

   Oppositefree, idle

2. 2
   verb

   Past tense and past participle of swamp.

   Thousands of complaints swamped the agency's phone lines within hours.

   Heavy seas had swamped the dinghy, and the two sailors bailed with their hats.

   Note

   One spelling serves as past tense and past participle, and the participle is often passive with with or by: swamped with orders, swamped by waves. The boat meaning is the literal one, water pouring in over the sides, and the busy meaning borrows its picture. Followed by with or by it is still the verb; we're swamped standing alone is the adjective for too busy.

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