Word.ws English Dictionary

draining the swamp

draining the swamp is the present participle and gerund of drain the swamp.

Meaning of drain the swamp

Verb

drain the swamp (third-person singular simple present drains the swamp, present participle draining the swamp, simple past and past participle drained the swamp)

  1. (US, figuratively) To eliminate the root causes of problems, especially to rid politics and government of evils, such as corruption and bureaucracy.
    • Why can't the Massachusetts Legislature summon its courage, and the Governor, and drain the swamp of which it is all so well aware, an act which in and of itself would eliminate many of the alligators.1972 February 24, Ian Menzies, “Please! Drain swamp”, in The Boston Globe, page 24

Questions about draining the swamp

What is draining the swamp the present participle and gerund of?
Draining the swamp is the present participle and gerund of drain the swamp.

Words near draining the swamp in the dictionary

  1. draining the dragon
  2. draining the lizard
  3. draining the main vein
  4. draining the python
  5. draining the snake
  6. draining the swamp
  7. draining-well
  8. drainingly
  9. drainings
  10. drainless
  11. drainlessness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: draining the swamp (page history and authors); drain the swamp (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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