slew
2 of 4past tense of slay
slew
4 of 4less common spelling of slough entry 1 sense 1b
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Slew appeared as an American colloquialism in the early 19th century. Its origins are unclear, but it is perhaps taken from the Irish slua, a descendant of Old Irish slúag, meaning "army," "host," or "throng." Slew has several homographs (words that are spelled alike but different in meaning, derivation, or pronunciation) in English. These include: slew as the past tense of the verb slay; slew as a spelling variant of slough, a word which is also commonly pronounced \SLOO\ and which means "swamp," "an inlet on a river," or "a creek in a marsh or tide flat"; and the verb slew, meaning "to turn, veer, or skid."
Synonyms
Noun
- abundance
- barrel
- basketful
- boatload
- bucket
- bunch
- bundle
- bushel
- carload
- chunk
- deal
- dozen
- fistful
- gobs
- good deal
- heap
- hundred
- lashings [chiefly British]
- lashins
- loads
- lot
- mass
- mess
- mountain
- much
- multiplicity
- myriad
- oodles
- pack
- passel
- peck
- pile
- plateful
- plenitude
- plentitude
- plenty
- pot
- potful
- profusion
- quantity
- raft
- reams
- scads
- sheaf
- shipload
- sight
- spate
- stack
- store
- ton
- truckload
- volume
- wad
- wealth
- yard
Examples of slew in a Sentence
Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 14 Aug. 2024
His next move was his Pop Out concert in Los Angeles on Juneteenth, which assembled a slew of West Coast artists, producers, and athletes.
—Armon Sadler, VIBE.com, 14 Aug. 2024
Several Senate races are set A slew of Senate matchups were finalized Tuesday evening, setting up a November showdown.
—Mabinty Quarshie, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 14 Aug. 2024
The project features a slew of Price’s friends and collaborators such as Method Man, Sadat X, Oh No, Rome Streetz, and Rockness Monstah.
—Andre Gee, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2024
See all Example Sentences for slew 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'slew.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Slew.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/slew. Accessed 18 Aug. 2024.
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