How to Use swab in a Sentence

swab

1 of 2 noun
  • The doctor took a throat swab and sent it to the lab.
  • Use a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to disinfect the area.
  • Meth and fentanyl from a swab on the couch.
    — Laura Bauer, Kansas City Star, 7 Sep. 2025
  • Then the swab is joined with a test strip and a liquid reagent.
    — Karen Kaplan Science and Medicine Editor, Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2021
  • Test users swirl the sample swab in a vial, which then goes in a test unit.
    — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 2 Mar. 2023
  • The kit can process a urine sample and a swab of the vaginal area.
    — Benjamin Ryan, NBC News, 26 Nov. 2023
  • They are asked to submit a nasal swab and a blood sample from each deer.
    — Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2022
  • And my mom kind of pulled me to the side and wiped me down with alcohol swabs.
    — Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 1 Dec. 2023
  • Stir the swab in the vial and then apply three drops of the liquid to the test kit.
    — Korin Miller, SELF, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Four health workers went door to door with suitcases full of swabs and vials.
    — Chris Bowling, ProPublica, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Gould said swabs from the area of the stain tested positive for blood.
    — Penny Kmitt, CBS News, 3 Dec. 2025
  • The new skin swab test collects this sebum from patients’ backs.
    — Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022
  • Apply a few drops onto a sensor swab.
    — Jacob Little, Space.com, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The child has a cotton swab in hand and is gently sticking it up his dad’s nose.
    — Erin Allday, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 Mar. 2022
  • Release from the sensor and discard the swab.
    — Jacob Little, Space.com, 12 Mar. 2026
  • The process for signing up to be a stem cell plant donor is just a cheek swab that is sent off to a registry.
    — Mike Hutton, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2023
  • Yes, using a cotton swab to clean your ears really is a bad idea.
    — Korin Miller, SELF, 24 June 2022
  • Prefer an adorable dog licking your face over an invasive swab up the nose?
    — Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY, 3 June 2022
  • The test requires screening through saliva, a cheek swab or a blood sample.
    — Assistant Sports Editor, Los Angeles Times, 27 Mar. 2026
  • Once corralled, the birds will undergo a blood draw, as well as an oral and cloacal swab.
    — Lila Seidman, Los Angeles Times, 8 Feb. 2022
  • The fodder are young athletes like Zhou whose Olympic dreams end with a nasal swab.
    — Ann Killion, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Feb. 2022
  • Dana next swabs Ilana’s mouth — the inside of her cheek and along the gum line — and her finger nails.
    — Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 23 Feb. 2026
  • Dana next swabs Ilana’s mouth — the inside of her cheek and along the gum line — and her finger nails.
    — Senior Television, Los Angeles Times, 20 Feb. 2026
  • The kit includes a quick cheek swab that is sent back to the lab to determine whether someone is a match.
    — Melissa Rudy, FOXNews.com, 20 Mar. 2026
  • Dip the swab into the liquid and write a message or draw a picture on the paper.
    — Rachelle Doorley, Parents, 16 Aug. 2023
  • Plus, a quick exhalation is a lot more comfortable than a swab up the nose.
    — Katie Jennings, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2022
  • The diagnostic gold standard is to culture it in a lab from a swab or to have a blood test.
    — Amy Bennett Williams, USA TODAY, 21 June 2023
  • Tate’s hands were swabbed to test for gunshot residue, but those swabs were never tested, the lawsuit said.
    — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 21 Dec. 2025
  • Once such way could involve the introduction of saliva from a throat swab.
    — Health Editorial Team, Health, 30 Oct. 2023
  • The swab traverses a dark passage that leads to the nasal cavity.
    — New York Times, 18 Nov. 2021

swab

2 of 2 verb
  • The nurse swabbed the cut with a disinfectant.
  • Most of the at-home tests still ask you to swab just your nose.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 7 Jan. 2022
  • Just open the tube, swab your nose, and place the tube in the testing vial.
    — Toni Sutton, Peoplemag, 14 Aug. 2023
  • Our hands and feet were swabbed for trace explosives.
    — Ashlea Halpern, Condé Nast Traveler, 7 Feb. 2025
  • The team swabbed the rat’s mouth and butt before setting her free.
    — Madeleine Schwartz, The New York Review of Books, 27 July 2023
  • To keep the beef from sticking, a cube of tallow is swabbed over the grill.
    — Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2023
  • People swab themselves and swirl it in a vial that is then placed in a test unit.
    — NBC News, 17 Nov. 2020
  • Hawk will ship swabbing kits to customers, which then go to a third-party lab.
    — Lina Zeldovich/undark, Popular Science, 15 May 2020
  • The over-the-counter test requires consumers to swab the inside of their noses.
    — Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 11 Nov. 2021
  • The only thing the nurses could give him was a frozen cotton swab to put on his tongue.
    — Maggie Menderski, courier-journal.com, 24 Nov. 2020
  • Some testing sites may ask you to swab your nose or cheek yourself, or spit into a tube.
    — Sarah Krouse, WSJ, 3 Sep. 2020
  • Your health care provider will swab the back of your nose or throat to collect a sample for testing.
    — Allison Duncan, Health.com, 7 Oct. 2020
  • Graf said four of the blood stains were swabbed and a presumptive blood test came back positive.
    — Shelley Jones, Chicago Tribune, 16 Aug. 2023
  • To take the test, users will need to self-swab their noses, then ship it back to Everlywell.
    — Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 16 Mar. 2021
  • Louise let a specialist swab her body for the man’s DNA.
    — Willoughby Mariano, ProPublica, 11 Sep. 2025
  • Your doctor will swab a lesion and order a monkeypox test for you.
    — New York Times, 21 July 2022
  • Tate’s hands were swabbed to test for gunshot residue, but those swabs were never tested, the lawsuit said.
    — Nathan Pilling, Kansas City Star, 21 Dec. 2025
  • For an accurate test, a patient must swab deep in the back of the nose or throat where the virus is most active.
    — Erin Brodwin, STAT, 20 Mar. 2020
  • Police swab the handles of Citibikes at the scene of a shooting in the Bronx.
    — Elijah Westbrook, CBS News, 9 June 2026
  • Blood tests are less direct than swab tests because antibodies can’t be read like a genome.
    — Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Apr. 2020
  • That means people who volunteer to get their nose swabbed will not receive the results of their test.
    — Claire Bugos, Verywell Health, 7 Nov. 2023
  • Results are obtained by swabbing a dog's cheek, mailing the sample, and are ready in two to four weeks.
    — Trisha Easto, USA Today, 17 Nov. 2025
  • The test will be a less invasive nasal PCR swab that is painless.
    — Peggy O’Hare, ExpressNews.com, 9 Oct. 2020
  • In the early weeks of the virus's spread across the state, there were not enough available tests to swab everyone who needed it.
    — Alison Steinbach, The Arizona Republic, 7 Aug. 2020
  • These steps were repeated with a small cotton swab to get into the inner corners of the eye and around the lash line.
    — Madison Yauger, Peoplemag, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Many test sites now get a saliva sample, and some just swab the shallow part of your nostril, not the part deep inside your skull.
    — Andy Larsen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 9 Aug. 2020
  • The company's test allows users to swab themselves to collect a nasal sample.
    — CBS News, 18 Nov. 2020
  • The company’s test allows users to swab themselves to collect a nasal sample.
    — Dallas News, 18 Nov. 2020
  • The initial core group of 400 students will be required to swab their noses every day for four months.
    — Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 Apr. 2021
  • The cheek swab that police want to obtain from him can be used to either rule out or confirm someone as a suspect in a crime.
    — Ramon Antonio Vargas | Staff Writer, NOLA.com, 21 Jan. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'swab.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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