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

Example Sentences

Still, a search for “teacup pigs” yields a deluge of breeders promising improbably small pigs.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

Two years earlier, a deluge in the city of Petropolis outside Rio de Janeiro left 241 people dead.

From Barron's • Feb. 25, 2026

The ultimate authority on how to handle the deluge of media inquiries was Mayor Karen Bass, according to an internal email reviewed by The Times.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026

Amid a deluge of ads for A.I. products, it was easy to shrug the whole thing off as part of a big, messy circus.

From Slate • Feb. 10, 2026

The deluge was too heavy to see anything beyond gray streaks of water.

From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George

Related Words

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