dwell
/dwɛl/
dwell noun: a period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
Noun
dwell (plural dwells)
- A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
- A brief pause in the motion of part of a mechanism to allow an operation to be completed.
- A planned delay in a timed control program.
- In a petrol engine, the period of time the ignition points are closed to let current flow through the ignition coil in between each spark. This is measured as an angle in degrees around the camshaft in the distributor which controls the points, for example in a 4-cylinder engine it might be 55° (spark at 90° intervals, points closed for 55° between each).
Verb
dwell (third-person singular simple present dwells, present participle dwelling, simple past and past participle dwelt or (chiefly US) dwelled)
- To live; to reside.
- I am fully resolved to go dwell in another house.1622, Henry Peacham (Jr.), The Compleat Gentleman
- The poor man dwells in a humble cottage near the hall where the lord of the domain resides.1871, Charles John Smith, Synonyms Discriminated: A Complete Catalogue of Synonymous Words in the English Language
- To linger (on); to remain fixated.
- Stop dwelling on the past!
- So it came about that long ere Ailie reached home it was on young Heriotside that her mind dwelled, and it was the love of him that made her eyes glow and her cheeks redden.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
- To be in a given state.
- To abide; to remain; to continue.
- My liefe (ſayd ſhe) ye know, that long ygo, / Whileſt ye in durance dwelt, ye to me gaue / A little mayde, the which ye chylded tho ; / The ſame againe if now ye liſt to haue, / The ſame is yonder Lady, whom high God did ſaue.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 17, page 512
- I'll rather dwell in my necessity.c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
dwell meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Telugu
dwell in Tamil
- குடியிருப்பு, வாழிடம், குடியிரு
dwell in Urdu
- رہنا
dwell in Bengali
- বাস করা, অবস্থান করা
dwell in Telugu
- live, reside
- నివసించు nivasiñcu
More languagesFewer languages
- dwell in Malayalam
- പാർക്കുക, താമസിക്കുക, വസിക്കുക
- dwell in Kannada
- ವಾಸಿಸು, ಇರು, ನೆಲೆಸಿರು, ನೆಲಸು
- dwell in Punjabi
- وسنا vassṇā
- dwell in Sanskrit
- क्षेति kṣeti, वसति vasati
- dwell in Arabic
- سَكَنَ sakana, أَقَامَ ʔaqāma, قَطَنَ qaṭana
- dwell in Indonesian
- tinggal, berdiam, mendiami
- dwell in Thai
- อาศัยอยู่ aa-sǎi-yùu, อยู่ yùu
- dwell in Vietnamese
- ở
Examples of dwell in a sentence
- And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.
- The drone has a dwell time of about six hours when operating from an in-theater airfield.
- The part needs a total dwell time in the autoclave of 95 minutes.
Forms of dwell
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | dwells |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | dwells |
| present participle | dwelling |
| past participle | dwelt |
| past | dwelt |
| past participle US | dwelled |
| past US | dwelled |
Origin of dwell
From Middle English dwellen (“delay, live, remain, persist”), from Old English dwellan (“to mislead, deceive; be led into error, stray”), from Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną (“to hold up, delay; hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwelH- (“to whirl, swirl, blur, obfuscate”), which is cognate with Old Norse dvelja and related to Proto-Germanic *dwelaną (“to go astray”), which underwent semantic change in its descendants. Cognates include Danish dvæle (“to linger, dwell”) and Swedish dväljas (“to dwell, reside”).
Words formed from dwell
Phrases with dwell
Words that rhyme with dwell
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- hell
- hotel
- repel
- smell
- cartel
- dell
- pell
- quell
- as well
- au naturel
- expel
- fell
- gel
- La Rochelle
- lol
- oversell
- stell
- wel
- ABDL
- dispel
- ell
- kell
- knell
- mell
- personnel
- quenelle
- snell
- undersell
- yell
- belle
- death knell
- del
- farewell
- flotel
- foretell
- gazelle
- impel
- mademoiselle
- marcel
- mel
- morell
- Moselle
- motel
- NFL
- overswell
- propel
- pucelle
- rappel
Questions about dwell
- What does dwell mean?
- Dwell means a period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
- What is dwell in Tamil?
- Dwell in Tamil is குடியிருப்பு, வாழிடம், குடியிரு. See Dwell meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is dwell?
- Dwell can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce dwell?
- Dwell is pronounced /dwɛl/.
- What is the plural of dwell?
- The plural of dwell is dwells.
Words near dwell in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dwell (page history and authors); dwell (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dwell (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dwell (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dwell (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); dwell (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); وسنا (Punjabi) (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-dwell.ogg.
Cite this entry: “dwell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dwell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.