swell the ranks
swell the ranks verb: to add significant numbers of members (to a group).
Verb
swell the ranks (third-person singular simple present swells the ranks, present participle swelling the ranks, simple past swelled the ranks, past participle swelled the ranks or swollen the ranks)
- To add significant numbers of members (to a group).
- All through the Empire the unskilled labourer is the one who feels the stress of hard times, when they do come, the most, and it is this class that goes very largely to swell the ranks of the unemployed.1913, Western Australia. Education Department ·, Report, page cxxviii
- Virtually all of them will swell the ranks of law-abiding, industrious, self-sufficient and successful young Americans, while the numbers among the wayward lawless, dependent, and destitute are noticeably reduced.1989, E. Dorian Gadsden, Progress Against the Tide, page 186
Forms of swell the ranks
| third-person singular present | swells the ranks |
|---|---|
| present participle | swelling the ranks |
| past | swelled the ranks |
| past participle | swelled the ranks |
| past participle | swollen the ranks |
Questions about swell the ranks
- What does swell the ranks mean?
- Swell the ranks means to add significant numbers of members (to a group).
- What part of speech is swell the ranks?
- Swell the ranks is a verb.
- What is the past tense of swell the ranks?
- The past tense of swell the ranks is swelled the ranks.
Words near swell the ranks in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: swell the ranks (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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