slew

C2+ Topic:Numbers & Quantity

US /slu/ UK /sluː/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a large number or quantity; also past tense of slay

A whole slew of new applicants arrived after the ad ran.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a large number or quantity;... lot mass host multitude abundance heap

Opposites

few handful

Word family

Related forms slay

Etymology

The noun 'large number' is from Irish slua ('crowd, multitude'); the verb 'twist, swing around' is of uncertain origin; as a verb form it is the past tense of slay (Old English slean).

slua Irish

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Numbers & Quantity

External links

# slew

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /slu/
**IPA (UK):** /sluː/

## Meanings
1. a large number or quantity; also past tense of slay

## Examples
- A whole slew of new applicants arrived after the ad ran.

## Synonyms
- lot
- mass
- host
- multitude
- abundance
- heap

## Antonyms
- few
- handful

## Related Forms
- slay

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: slua

## Etymology
The noun 'large number' is from Irish slua ('crowd, multitude'); the verb 'twist, swing around' is of uncertain origin; as a verb form it is the past tense of slay (Old English slean).

## AI Etymology
Slew has a divided etymological history: The noun 'large number' is from Irish slua ('crowd, multitude'); the verb 'twist, swing around' is of uncertain origin; as a verb form it is the past tense of slay (Old English slean). The historical chain includes Irish slua. Older glosses in the chain include "large number", "crowd, multitude", and "twist, swing around", which help explain the semantic range of the modern word. Morphologically, slew is best read as uncertain formation, yielding an English noun and verb shaped by both form history and later usage. In current English it functions as a noun and verb, with the sense "a large number or quantity; also past tense of slay". related forms include slay. The result is an English noun and verb whose etymology preserves the older forms while supporting the word's specialized modern meaning.

## Topics
- Numbers & Quantity

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