overwhelming
Americanadjective
-
that overwhelms; overpowering.
The temptation to despair may become overwhelming.
-
so great as to render resistance or opposition useless.
an overwhelming majority.
adjective
Usage
What’s the difference between overwhelming and underwhelming? The over- in overwhelming means “too much” and the under- in underwhelming essentially means “too little,” and the two words can be direct opposites, but they’re usually used in different contexts.The verb 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. Something that’s overwhelming causes you to be overcome in this way. Underwhelm means to fail to impress, especially when that is the expectation. Underwhelming, then, means unimpressive or disappointing.Both words also have other adjective forms: overwhelmed (overcome to the point of not being able to manage) and underwhelmed (unimpressed or disappointed).Things that are overwhelming don’t always involve stress or other negative emotions. A friend’s generosity or the birth of a child can be overwhelming. Still, it’s usually about feeling a lot. In this way, underwhelming can be the opposite of overwhelming in some situations. For example, the same concert may be overwhelming for one person (perhaps it’s the first concert they’ve ever attended) but underwhelming for 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 overwhelming and underwhelming used correctly in the same sentence.Example: It was a bad dining experience—the noise in the restaurant was overwhelming and the food was underwhelming.Want to learn more? Read the breakdown of the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm.
Other Word Forms
- overwhelmingly adverb
- overwhelmingness noun
Etymology
Origin of overwhelming
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.
Typing those words as an American in 2026 is overwhelming, even if the purpose here is simply to temporally contextualize this project.
From Salon
A man in his 20s from Karaj said: "I'm getting tired of this situation. The whole war is overwhelming. Some scenarios for the future and for the people of Iran are truly frightening."
From BBC
Playing a hard-line political prisoner in 1983 Argentina, his Valentin starts the film rejecting everything it stands for: romance, fantasy, overwhelming emotions.
From Los Angeles Times
The rocky outpost about 15 miles off Iran’s coast hosts the country’s main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world.
From Barron's
Since then have looked like the team that came in as overwhelming favourites to win in their home conditions, perhaps also one of the best T20 sides the international game has seen.
From BBC
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.
