overwhelm
Americanverb (used with object)
-
overwhelms,
present (3rd person singular)
-
overwhelmed,
past participle, past
-
overwhelming
present participle
-
to overcome completely in mind or feeling.
overwhelmed by remorse.
-
to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush.
Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.
-
to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as floodwaters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge.
Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.
-
to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything.
a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.
-
to overthrow.
verb
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to overpower the thoughts, emotions, or senses of
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to overcome with irresistible force
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to overcome, as with a profusion or concentration of something
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to cover over or bury completely
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to weigh or rest upon overpoweringly
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archaic to overturn
Usage
What’s the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm? The over- in overwhelm means “too much” and the under- in underwhelm essentially means “too little,” and the two words can be direct opposites, but they’re usually used in different contexts. Overwhelm most commonly means to cause to be overcome with emotion as a result of an amount of something (work, stress, etc.) that’s just too much to handle. (It can also mean to overpower or physically cover beneath a mass of something). Underwhelm means to fail to impress, especially when that is the expectation. Both words are often used in adjective forms: overwhelmed (overcome to the point of not being able to manage), overwhelming (describing something that leads to feeling overwhelmed), underwhelmed (unimpressed or disappointed), and underwhelming (unimpressive or disappointing). Being overwhelmed isn’t always about stress or other negative emotions. You could be overwhelmed by a friend’s generosity or the birth of a child. Still, it’s usually about feeling a lot. In this way, underwhelm can be the opposite of overwhelm in some situations. For example, the same concert may overwhelm one person (perhaps it’s the first concert they’ve ever attended) but underwhelm someone else (maybe because it doesn’t meet their high expectations). And, yes, whelm is a word. It can mean the same thing as overwhelm, but it’s very rarely used. Here’s an example of overwhelm and underwhelm used correctly in the same sentence. Example: I never want to underwhelm the fans, and sometimes that pressure can overwhelm me, but it all goes away when I walk on stage. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overwhelmsimple
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overwhelmssimple
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have overwhelmedperfect
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has overwhelmedperfect
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am overwhelmingprogressive
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are overwhelmingprogressive
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is overwhelmingprogressive
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have been overwhelmingperfect progressive
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has been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Past
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overwhelmedsimple
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had overwhelmedperfect
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was overwhelmingprogressive
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were overwhelmingprogressive
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had been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overwhelm
A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at over-, whelm
Explanation
Overwhelm means “give a person too much of something.” If your friend agrees to feed your pet fish while you’re on vacation, don’t overwhelm her with requests by also asking her to do your laundry and wash the dishes. While it’s easy to be overwhelmed by chores or complaints, it’s also possible to be overwhelmed by good things — if they occur in large quantities. You might enjoy a stack of pancakes for breakfast, but you'd probably find a truckload of pancakes overwhelming. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by emotion, and this can be a positive or negative experience, depending on the emotion. For example, you might feel overwhelmed by gratitude if your friend takes excellent care of your fish, but overwhelmed with grief if the fish is accidentally flushed in your absence.
Vocabulary lists containing overwhelm
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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List 7
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Packing too many circuits into one cell can also overwhelm its protein production machinery.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
Shield adds that you don't want to overwhelm your child with information about school, but get them to a point where it feels "familiar"
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
“Macro conditions, liquidity and positioning can overwhelm fundamentals, and bitcoin could fall well below current levels without invalidating its longer-term investment case,” said Silenskyte.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
More locals are willing to accept development, as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the quaintness of the city, apartment developer Tourtellote said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
“You push it back. You can feel when it starts to overwhelm you.”
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Even here in the relative safety of Annapolis, Maryland, an advancing armada of amped-up college kids overwhelms me.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“The unexpected overwhelms you,” said McDonnel, who said her obligations for her parents vary daily and weekly.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
But both he and Balda know how much medicine the audience can handle in their fluff before the bitterness overwhelms the sweet.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
A successful Kurdish offensive could also "enable a spreading of discontent" that overwhelms the Islamic republic, said Ritondale, now chief intelligence officer at Artorias, a global risk intelligence provider.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
“Your charm overwhelms me,” I say in my driest voice.
From "Warcross" by Marie Lu
Several on the ground said they were overwhelmed by the support coming from first responders and fellow reporters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
He said he had been "overwhelmed" by the skills and professionalism of care workers supporting his father.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
"Eyes-brimming, the veteran singer gave herself little nods of approval after every line, before finally breaking down at the end of the track, seemingly overwhelmed at having made it through."
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
The attack overwhelmed maintainers of an online service for coders, called RubyGems, and forced them to shut down new account registrations as they dealt with the chaos it had caused, operators of the service said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
When I connect to Courage’s system, I expect to be overwhelmed with information.
From "A Rover's Story" by Jasmine Warga
Surging global bond yields are overwhelming the inflation-hedge narrative, says YCC Capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
For many Los Angeles families, it’s not one responsibility that is overwhelming; it’s the hundreds of them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
The overwhelming majority—80 percent—of the recipients of this federal childcare credit are single parents, and the overwhelming majority of them are single mothers.
From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2026
"A key finding is that global warming and human emissions are now overwhelming the Pacific's natural influence on the Indian Ocean," Ummenhofer said.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
It had been overwhelming then, but it was even more overwhelming now with its eerie silence.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
