engulf
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
-
to immerse, plunge, bury, or swallow up
-
(often passive) to overwhelm
engulfed by debts
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
engulfsimple
-
engulfssimple
-
have engulfedperfect
-
has engulfedperfect
-
am engulfingprogressive
-
are engulfingprogressive
-
is engulfingprogressive
-
have been engulfingperfect progressive
-
has been engulfingperfect progressive
Past
-
engulfedsimple
-
had engulfedperfect
-
was engulfingprogressive
-
were engulfingprogressive
-
had been engulfingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of engulf
Explanation
Engulf is a verb that means being completely surrounded, soaked, or covered. Fire, snow, smoke, flood waters, or even violence are a few things that could engulf you. Suppose an amusement park had a ride called Into the Whirlpool. Sounds like one for thrill-seekers who aren't afraid of water. Riders should expect to get lost inside, fully absorbed by the experience. The word engulf comes from the Old French word golfe, meaning "whirlpool," and the prefix en-, meaning "in or into." Riders of Into the Whirlpool should expect to feel engulfed — surrounded by water and completely covered.
Vocabulary lists containing engulf
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech (1963)
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"A Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury
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Divergent
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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:
This finding suggests that the earliest blood cells may have resembled macrophages, which are immune cells that engulf harmful microbes and cellular debris.
From Science Daily ● May 27, 2026
Later, explaining to his mom why he doesn’t have any friends his own age, Valdi purses his lips in a mimicry of the older men who would engulf him — a touchingly sad little detail.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
"If you keep working hard, the hard work will find a way to engulf the problem and make it tolerable. That is what I'm doing."
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2026
Winter Storm Fern is forecast to engulf an area well over half the length of the continental United States, stretching from Texas and the Great Plains region to the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
A wave of loss threatened to engulf him; he curled his fingers into fists, feeling his nails pressing into his palms.
From "Huntress" by Malinda Lo
A Democratic lawmaker resigned Tuesday, becoming the third member of the US House of Representatives to step down in just over a week as a wave of ethics scandals engulfs Congress.
From Barron's ● Apr. 21, 2026
By soon, they mean any time before the sun engulfs us all, which will happen sometime in the next five billion years.
From Salon ● Feb. 25, 2025
Deficits have already appeared in some provinces, where local governments that had relied heavily on land sales for revenue are now struggling with debt as a real estate crisis engulfs China's economy.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025
After a flood engulfs the cat’s home, it finds itself in a small sailboat along with the other three animals.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 19, 2024
‘If the statue engulfs people in fire, we should send Leo.’
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
Authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people, including from affluent tourist sites engulfed in the flames.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Chicago also has struggled mightily outside of a win against Phoenix this week and has been engulfed in drama around veteran guard Skylar Diggins, who sat out because of a knee injury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026
SEATTLE—For all of the controversy that had engulfed Team USA in the 24 hours leading up to its match against Belgium, the game itself was always going to represent something more than a political maelstrom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
The flames engulfed the roof of the building, set in the 11th-century landmark, blazing across the Ukrainian capital's skyline.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Gibrilla, Talloi, Kaloko, and Khalilou were all looking at the top of the forest that engulfed the village.
From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah
Burnham is taking the reins amid global "turmoil", or so says the Sun, which writes that chaos is "already engulfing the crucial issue of oil and gas drilling".
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
Now there are fears that as Wagner digs deeper into Bangui, it will add to the chaos already engulfing the wider region, said Dukhan, the researcher.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 12, 2026
The size of the prize and the penalties for failure have been illustrated by the instant pressure engulfing Nagelsmann - and the departure of Dutch counterpart Koeman - after those losses.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
In 2022, clusters of doji candles and bearish engulfing patterns reflected sustained downside pressure and signaled the downtrend.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
Obinze had never made as much of an effort as he did the rest of the day to seem normal, to tame the rage that was engulfing him.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
