drown
to die under water or other liquid of suffocation.
to kill by submerging under water or other liquid.
to destroy or get rid of by, or as if by, immersion: He drowned his sorrows in drink.
to flood or inundate.
to overwhelm so as to render inaudible, as by a louder sound (often followed by out).
to add too much water or liquid to (a drink, food, or the like).
to slake (lime) by covering with water and letting stand.
drown in,
to be overwhelmed by: The company is drowning in bad debts.
to be covered with or enveloped in: The old movie star was drowning in mink.
Origin of drown
1Other words for drown
Other words from drown
- drowner, noun
- half-drowned, adjective
- half-drowning, adjective
- un·drowned, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use drown in a sentence
One of the three, Ralph Goodwin, is said to have drowned while swimming at a beach outside Havana.
So quiet, in fact, that it is drowned out by the voices of everyone around her.
He was talking about the kinds of kittens that are drowned when nobody wants them.
A Torture Survivor on Ukraine's Tortured Ceasefire | Anna Nemtsova | September 11, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTYou'll have to report the drowned Iraqi soldier, but no US leaders will care.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in Iraq | Nathan Bradley Bethea | August 31, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTL. Jinny explains that “the love is all drowned in [inaudible].”
Meet Abdel-Majed Abdel Bary, aka L. Jinny, the Ali G of Evil | Olivia Nuzzi | August 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Drowned every few seconds by our tremendous salvoes, this more nervous noise crept back insistently into our ears in the interval.
Gallipoli Diary, Volume I | Ian HamiltonThis vessel, loaded with supplies, went ashore and was lost; and one hundred and twenty Japanese and three Dutchmen were drowned.
Frantic applause, several times repeated, which drowned the voice of the orator.
The Philippine Islands | John ForemanThere I was, practically tête-à-tête with the man; the noise of the crowd drowned my cries and remonstrances.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3) | Charles James WillsA tidal wave rolls landward, and twenty thousand human beings are drowned, or crushed to death.
God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
British Dictionary definitions for drown
/ (draʊn) /
to die or kill by immersion in liquid
(tr) to destroy or get rid of as if by submerging: he drowned his sorrows in drink
(tr) to drench thoroughly; inundate; flood
(tr sometimes foll by out) to render (a sound) inaudible by making a loud noise
Origin of drown
1Derived forms of drown
- drowner, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with drown
In addition to the idioms beginning with drown
- drown one's sorrows
- drown out
also see:
- like a drowned rat
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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