"swelling" in the noun sense

1. swelling, puffiness, lump

an abnormal protuberance or localized enlargement

2. bulge, bump, hump, swelling, gibbosity, gibbousness, jut, prominence, protuberance, protrusion, extrusion, excrescence

something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from its surroundings

"the gun in his pocket made an obvious bulge"

"the hump of a camel"

"he stood on the rocky prominence"

"the occipital protuberance was well developed"

"the bony excrescence between its horns"

3. intumescence, intumescency, swelling

the increase in volume of certain substances when they are heated (often accompanied by release of water)

"swelling" in the verb sense

1. swell

increase in size, magnitude, number, or intensity

"The music swelled to a crescendo"

2. swell, puff up

become filled with pride, arrogance, or anger

"The mother was swelling with importance when she spoke of her son"

3. swell, swell up, intumesce, tumefy, tumesce

expand abnormally

"The bellies of the starving children are swelling"

4. well up, swell

come up (as of feelings and thoughts, or other ephemeral things

"Strong emotions welled up"

"Smoke swelled from it"

5. well, swell

come up, as of a liquid

"Tears well in her eyes"

"the currents well up"

6. swell

cause to become swollen

"The water swells the wood"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

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