See drain the swamp in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1899.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "drains the swamp",
"tags": [
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]
},
{
"form": "draining the swamp",
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{
"form": "drained the swamp",
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{
"form": "drained the swamp",
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"expansion": "drain the swamp (third-person singular simple present drains the swamp, present participle draining the swamp, simple past and past participle drained the swamp)",
"name": "en-verb"
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"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
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82,
97
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],
"ref": "1972 February 24, Ian Menzies, “Please! Drain swamp”, in The Boston Globe, page 24:",
"text": "Why can't the Massachusetts Legislature summon its courage, and the Governor, and drain the swamp of which it is all so well aware, an act which in and of itself would eliminate many of the alligators.",
"type": "quote"
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{
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"ref": "2024 November 11, Peter Hyman, “Donald Trump is right. There is a \"swamp\", but it’s the left that must drain it”, in New Statesman:",
"text": "In every conversation I had with Trump supporters at his rallies during the election, one impulse kept surfacing: drain the swamp.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To eliminate the root causes of problems, especially to rid politics and government of evils, such as corruption and bureaucracy."
],
"id": "en-drain_the_swamp-en-verb-AJgCZ8QX",
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"(figurative, US politics) To eliminate the root causes of problems, especially to rid politics and government of evils, such as corruption and bureaucracy."
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"word": "drain the swamp"
}
{
"etymology_text": "First use appears c. 1899.",
"forms": [
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"form": "drains the swamp",
"tags": [
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},
{
"form": "draining the swamp",
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{
"form": "drained the swamp",
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{
"form": "drained the swamp",
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}
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],
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"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
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"ref": "1972 February 24, Ian Menzies, “Please! Drain swamp”, in The Boston Globe, page 24:",
"text": "Why can't the Massachusetts Legislature summon its courage, and the Governor, and drain the swamp of which it is all so well aware, an act which in and of itself would eliminate many of the alligators.",
"type": "quote"
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129
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"ref": "2024 November 11, Peter Hyman, “Donald Trump is right. There is a \"swamp\", but it’s the left that must drain it”, in New Statesman:",
"text": "In every conversation I had with Trump supporters at his rallies during the election, one impulse kept surfacing: drain the swamp.",
"type": "quote"
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],
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"To eliminate the root causes of problems, especially to rid politics and government of evils, such as corruption and bureaucracy."
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"(figurative, US politics) To eliminate the root causes of problems, especially to rid politics and government of evils, such as corruption and bureaucracy."
],
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"topics": [
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],
"word": "drain the swamp"
}
Download raw JSONL data for drain the swamp meaning in English (2.2kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-04-29 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-04-20 using wiktextract (4eaa824 and ea19a0a). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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