engulf
Americanverb (used with object)
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engulfs,
present (3rd person singular)
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engulfed,
past participle, past
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engulfing
present participle
verb
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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
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engulfssimple
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have engulfedperfect
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has engulfedperfect
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am engulfingprogressive
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are engulfingprogressive
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is engulfingprogressive
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have been engulfingperfect progressive
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has been engulfingperfect progressive
Past
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engulfedsimple
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had engulfedperfect
-
was engulfingprogressive
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were engulfingprogressive
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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:
As it grows, it will engulf Mercury, Venus and possibly Earth.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 16, 2026
For years the local council was concerned about the geology in the area as the mountain was moving, and later feared a landslide would engulf the village without warning.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 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
But he also doesn’t want the war to engulf more energy infrastructure.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 6, 2026
Nine steps down and she’s on the sand and the twenty thousand sounds of the ocean engulf her.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Scaffolding engulfs the inside of the giant multi-billion-dollar structure, rising all the way up to the 100-metre-high ceiling.
From Barron's ● Dec. 26, 2025
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
A staff member sits in an air-conditioned cab so they are protected from the dust, which engulfs the tunnels when the machine operates.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2025
As real-life NBC executive Dave Tebet, Dafoe is literally the adult in “Saturday Night’s” room as chaos engulfs the young comedians pratfalling toward the sketch show’s 1975 first broadcast.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 31, 2024
‘If the statue engulfs people in fire, we should send Leo.’
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
But for fire safety expert Dr Tony Fogarty, there are many reasons why one home can be engulfed in flames while another is barely touched.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Her energy rises and falls alongside the mysterious mist, which has engulfed the city and brought whispers of a mysterious ancient entity lurking in its haze.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Another major fire, which engulfed vineyards and olive groves on the Peljesac peninsula further south, was also brought under control on Friday evening, following a fierce battle involving 240 firefighters and three planes.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Firefighters responded to a call shortly before 3 a.m. and found the home engulfed in flames.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
They had engulfed the great buildings and were slowly ripping apart the soft limestone with their roots.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Yet with a new AI scandal engulfing publishing seemingly every month, it’s become more difficult to punt questions about its impact into some distant future.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
"Wildfire in Suffolk burns near nuclear plant" the Guardian says, printed below a photo of firefighters dousing flames engulfing a cluster of trees.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 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
A bullish engulfing candle defined the lows in April 2025, and a hammer off the very round $100 level in April 2026, filling a gap from July 2025, again marked a trough.
From Barron's ● Jun. 13, 2026
Katya died like a true Soviet fighter pilot, first filling an enemy fighter with bullets before using expert flight techniques to put out the flames that were engulfing her own plane.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
