inundate
Americanverb
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to cover completely with water; overflow; flood; swamp
-
to overwhelm, as if with a flood
to be inundated with requests
Synonym Usage
See flood.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inundatesimple
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inundatessimple
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have inundatedperfect
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has inundatedperfect
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am inundatingprogressive
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are inundatingprogressive
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is inundatingprogressive
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have been inundatingperfect progressive
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has been inundatingperfect progressive
Past
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inundatedsimple
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had inundatedperfect
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was inundatingprogressive
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were inundatingprogressive
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had been inundatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inundate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin inundātus, past participle of inundāre “to flood, overflow,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + und(a) “wave” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To inundate means to quickly fill up or overwhelm, just like a flood. Your bathroom could be inundated with water if the pipes burst, and hopefully your inbox is inundated with nice emails on your birthday. Commonly used to refer to a deluge of water, inundate can also refer to an overflow of something less tangible, like information. Right before the holidays, toy stores are often inundated with eager parents scrambling to get the latest action figures and video games. Attempt to read the entire dictionary in one sitting and you'll inundate your mind with vocabulary. But you probably won't remember any of it tomorrow.
Vocabulary lists containing inundate
List 6
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Fast Food Nation
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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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:
Worryingly, Jones draws a close analogy with the present-day situation as he expects the deluge of planned IPO issuance this year, in the form of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, to inundate the market completely.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
David Joyce, a Seaport Research Partners media analyst, said part of the reason Tubi has been able to capture audiences—especially young people—is because the platform is easy to use and doesn’t inundate viewers with ads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
Mr Weston said "prolonged wet weather meant further rain had nowhere to go other than to inundate our ageing and fragile sewer network".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
Runner-Up: I also let Instagram totally inundate me with border collie videos.
From Slate ● Dec. 28, 2024
It was a time when happiness was allowed to spill over, to inundate all rooms, to rule all faces, and to reign unmolested in the turbulent kingdom of the fighter pilot.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Checking air quality and staying indoors when smoke inundates the Seattle area has become second nature during Washington’s wildfire season in recent years.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
“But what we’ve seen with these extreme weather events is so much liquid gets into the well that it completely inundates the system and then the pumps no longer function,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Some areas of Florida have been hit with flooding as knee-deep water inundates some coastal towns.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
Given that reality, a devastating storm that inundates a large number of structures could force the area to consider where it is safe to rebuild — and where it isn’t.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
The ancient capital of Hadiyah shares with Zebid in Yemen, the reputation of being an Alma Mater, and inundates the surrounding districts with poor scholars and crazy "Widads."
From First Footsteps in East Africa by Sir Richard Francis Burton
"With the 30th anniversary of Diana's tragic death on the skyline, I've been inundated yet again with requests for interviews about my sister," Spencer said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Tracy Sweetland-Hodges, who works for the charity, said demand had "doubled if not tripled" and its two support workers were "inundated every morning with a long list of referrals from across the borough".
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
On visiting day, Youngelson was inundated with appreciation from their families.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“We are hyper-aware of what is said and written about us. We are inundated with so much information that, at times, we can’t tell what is true and what is false.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Moments later we were inundated with a flood of calls from media, clients, families, and children’s rights advocates.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
Quakes of that magnitude can even pose a risk of tsunami-like waves on the lake itself, with possible heights of more than 30 feet — capable of inundating many areas near the shoreline.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 4, 2026
Advertisers kicked off the holiday season even earlier this year, and they are inundating TVs with commercials.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
In Toshima village, some residents have been sleep-deprived and tired, authorities said, as they urged the media to stop inundating locals with queries.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2025
Expect college recruiters to be inundating him with offers this spring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025
Future searches will be difficult: thousands of years ago, the melting glaciers raised the seas, inundating coastal settlements, if they existed.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
