Word.ws English Dictionary

swatting

swatting is the present participle and gerund of swat.

Noun

swatting (plural swattings)

  1. A motion or gesture that swats; a swat.
    • This […] evoked a new disorder — a tendency to sudden, tic-like jabbings and swattings in the air, as if she were fending off flies or mosquitoes.1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings
  2. (US, slang) The action of making an illegitimate call to the police so as to have a SWAT team dispatched to a location.
    • Swatting started in the combative world of online gaming. It was a way to terrorize someone more famous, get even with a rival or retaliate against someone with different political views.2020 January 23, Sheera Frenkel, “People Are Calling SWAT Teams to Tech Executives’ Homes”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    • Mr. Herring’s relatives said they wanted tougher laws against swatting and more training for police agencies on how to recognize potential fake calls.2021 July 24, Maria Cramer, “A Grandfather Died in ‘Swatting’ Over His Twitter Handle, Officials Say”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Meaning of swat

Verb (1)

swat (third-person singular simple present swats, present participle swatting, simple past and past participle swatted)

  1. (transitive) To beat off, as insects; to bat, strike, or hit.
    • He swatted the mosquito that was buzzing around in his bedroom.

Verb (2)

swat (third-person singular simple present swats, present participle swatting, simple past and past participle swatted)

  1. (US, slang, transitive) To illegitimately provoke a SWAT assault upon (someone).
    • The conspiracy, as alleged, began in November 2002, and has resulted in hundreds of harassing and swatting calls being made, both nationally and internationally, with hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses and the disruption hundreds of victims’ lives.2007 November 30, ““Swatters” Plead Guilty to Conspiracy”, in Federal Bureau of Investigation Dallas Field Division, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2007

See all 7 meanings of swat

Forms of swatting

pluralswattings

Origin of swatting

From SWAT + -ing.

Questions about swatting

What does swatting mean?
Swatting means a motion or gesture that swats; a swat.
What is swatting the present participle and gerund of?
Swatting is the present participle and gerund of swat.
What part of speech is swatting?
Swatting is a noun.
What is the plural of swatting?
The plural of swatting is swattings.

Words near swatting in the dictionary

  1. swatted
  2. swatter
  3. swattered
  4. swattering
  5. swatters
  6. swatting
  7. swattings
  8. swattle
  9. swattled
  10. swattles
  11. swattling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: swatting (page history and authors); swat (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-swatting.ogg.

Cite this entry: “swatting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/swatting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.