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Added 8 October 2026

dwell

/dwɛl/ noun

In Latin: incolō, habitō Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about dwell at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A period of time in which a system or component remains in a given state.
A brief pause in the motion of part of a mechanism to allow an operation to be completed.
A planned delay in a timed control program.

verb

To live; to reside.
To linger (on); to remain fixated. .mw-parser-output .object-usage-tag{font-style:italic}.mw-parser-output .deprecated{color:var(--wikt-palette-grey-lime-8,olivedrab)}[with on ‘a particular thought, idea, etc.’]
Stop dwelling on the past!
To be in a given state.

Origin

From Middle English dwellen (“delay, live, remain, persist”), from Old English dwellan (“to mislead, deceive; be led into error, stray”), from Proto-Germanic *dwaljaną (“to hold up, delay; hesitate”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwelH- (“to whirl, swirl, blur, obfuscate”), which is cognate with Old Norse dvelja and related to Proto-Germanic *dwelaną (“to go astray”), which underwent semantic change in its descendants. Cognates include Danish dvæle (“to linger, dwell”) and Swedish dväljas (“to dwell, reside”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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