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• deluge
  deluge

  noun

  a great flood of water; inundation; flood.
• Deluge
  Deluge

  noun

  another name for the Flood

deluge

American  

[del-yooj, -yoozh, del-ooj, -oozh, dih-looj, -loozh] / ˈdɛl yudʒ, -yuʒ, ˈdɛl udʒ, -uʒ, dɪˈludʒ, -ˈluʒ /

noun

1. a great flood of water; inundation; flood.

2. a drenching rain; downpour.

3. anything that overwhelms like a flood.

   a deluge of mail.

   Synonyms:

   catastrophe, cataclysm

4. the Deluge. flood.

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verb (used with object)

deluged, deluging

1. to flood; inundate.

2. to overrun; overwhelm.

   She was deluged with congratulatory letters.

deluge ¹ British  

/ ˈdɛljuːdʒ /

noun

1. a great flood of water

2. torrential rain; downpour

3. an overwhelming rush or number

   a deluge of requests

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verb

1. to flood, as with water; soak, swamp, or drown

2. to overwhelm or overrun; inundate

Deluge ² British  

/ ˈdɛljuːdʒ /

noun

1. another name for the Flood

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Related Words

See flood.

Other Word Forms

• undeluged
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of deluge

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin dīluvium “flood,” equivalent to dīluv-, base of dīluere “to wash away, dissolve” ( dī- di ² + -luere, combining form of lavere “to wash”) + -ium -ium

Explanation

Feeling overwhelmed, like you're underwater? You might be experiencing a deluge — like when you've been given a deluge of homework over vacation: a dozen term papers, two dozen books to read, and a mile-high stack of math problems. The noun deluge is an overwhelming amount of something in general, such as work, people, or questions. Because of its Latin roots, however, in particular it means an overwhelming amount of water. It comes from diluvian, which means flood. The verb deluge similarly means to overwhelm or inundate with something, particularly water. The hurricane deluged the island with rain. A deluge isn't always a bad thing, however. One thing most people would like to be deluged with? Money.

Example Sentences

Deluge in California: The blazes in Chile were likely worsened by El Niño, the cyclical climate pattern that also may have worsened the damage from a record-breaking storm in California.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2024

Stephen King, who read an advance copy of The Deluge, called it "the best novel" he read last year.

From Salon • Jan. 31, 2023

This story is part of a series, After the Deluge, produced with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 29, 2021

Despite its fragility and scale, it holds its own in a room themed around the conflicts of the 1970s opposite Philip Guston’s magisterial painting Deluge II, made at the same time.

From The Guardian • Oct. 16, 2019

Nor is the Puranic version of the Legend of the Deluge to be despised, though it be of recent date and full of fantastic and often puerile details.

From The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, November 1879 by Various

Related Words

• douse
• drench
• engulf
• flood
• overflow
• overrun
• overwhelm
• soak
• submerge
• swamp