swoon

UK: /ˈswuːn/ US: /swun/ ,(swo̅o̅n)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

swoon /swun/   v. [no object]

1. Pathology to faint;
   lose consciousness.
2. to enter a state of hysterical emotion or ecstasy:
   The teenagers swooned when the rock star walked onto the stage.

n. [countable]

3. Pathology a faint or fainting fit;
   syncope.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

swoon (swo̅o̅n),  v.i. 

1. Pathology to faint;
   lose consciousness.
2. to enter a state of hysterical rapture or ecstasy:
   The teenagers swooned at the sight of the singing star.

n. 

3. Pathology a faint or fainting fit;
   syncope.

• 1250–1300; (verb, verbal) Middle English swo(w)nen to faint, origin, originally as gerund, gerundive swowening, swoghning act of swooning, ultimately continuing Old English -swōgan (in compounds) to rush, overrun, choke; (noun, nominal) Middle English, partly derivative of the verb, verbal, partly extracted from in (a) swoune, on swoune, alteration of a swoune, aswoune in a swoon, as if equivalent. to a a-¹ + swoon (noun, nominal), but probably continuing Old English āswōgen, past participle of āswōgan to overcome (see a-³), or geswōgen (past participle) senseless, dead

swoon′ing•ly, adv. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

swoon / swuːn/ verb (intransitive)

1. a literary word for faint
2. to become ecstatic

noun

1. an instance of fainting

Also (archaic or dialect): swound Etymology: Old English geswōgen insensible, past participle of swōgan (unattested except in compounds) to suffocate

ˈswooning adjective