Dictionary

groundswell en · NOUN

Etymology

From ground + swell.

Meanings

1. A broad undulation of the open ocean, often as the result of a distant disturbance.
2. (broadly) A broadly-based shifting of public opinion.
   • The public’s endorsement of the war lacks the patriotic groundswell that greeted the annexation of Crimea in 2014. 2022 April 1, Anton Troianovski, Ivan Nechepurenko, Valeriya Safronova, “Shaken at First, Many Russians Now Rally Behind Putin’s Invasion”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • The 1987 book British Piers was written at a time when Britain's seaside resorts were perhaps at their lowest ebb, with a groundswell of support for rejuvenation and conservation just beginning. 2020 July 29, Dr Joseph Brennan, “Railways that reach out over the waves”, in Rail, page 51:
   • An astonishing groundswell of support for the new Democratic frontrunner, Barack Obama, is threatening to sweep Hillary Clinton away in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary election of the 2008 presidential contest tomorrow. 2008 January 7, Ewen MacAskill, “Groundswell for Obama leaves Clinton campaign on the rack”, in The Guardian:
   • Investments in research, deployment and scaling existing technologies are the initial ripples that will have to build to a groundswell of further action. 2025 September 11, Kate Marvel, “‘We’ve done it before’: how not to lose hope in the fight against ecological disaster”, in The Guardian:

Forms

Relateds

wind swell

Translations (10)

fi perusmaininki (broad undulation of the open ocean) · ru нака́т (broad undulation of the open ocean) · fi groundswell (broad undulation of the open ocean) · de Grundströmung (broad undulation of the open ocean) · fr lame de fond (broad undulation of the open ocean) · de Grunddünung (broad undulation of the open ocean) · ga múisceán (broad undulation of the open ocean) · bg мъртво вълнение (broad undulation of the open ocean) · pl fala głębinowa (broad undulation of the open ocean) · gl marusía (broad undulation of the open ocean)