a great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
any great outpouring or stream.
a flood of emotions;
a flood of requests;
a flood of patients.
the Flood, a universal deluge recorded in the Bible, believed to have occurred in the days of Noah.
the rise or flowing in of the tide (opposed to ebb).
a floodlight.
Archaic. a large body of water.
to overflow in or cover with a flood; fill to overflowing.
Don't flood the bathtub.
to cover or fill, as if with a flood.
The road was flooded with cars.
to overwhelm with an abundance of something.
to be flooded with mail.
Automotive. to supply too much fuel to (the carburetor), so that the engine fails to start.
to floodlight.
to flow or pour in or as if in a flood.
to rise in a flood; overflow.
Pathology.
to suffer uterine hemorrhage, especially in connection with childbirth.
to have an excessive menstrual flow.
the inundation of land that is normally dry through the overflowing of a body of water, esp a river
the state of a river that is at an abnormally high level (esp in the phrase in flood )
a great outpouring or flow
a flood of words
the rising of the tide from low to high water
( as modifier ) Compare ebb
the flood tide
theatre short for floodlight
archaic a large body of water, as the sea or a river
(of water) to inundate or submerge (land) or (of land) to be inundated or submerged
to fill or be filled to overflowing, as with a flood
the children's home was flooded with gifts
(intr) to flow; surge
relief flooded through him
to supply an excessive quantity of petrol to (a carburettor or petrol engine) or (of a carburettor, etc) to be supplied with such an excess
(intr) to rise to a flood; overflow
(intr)
to bleed profusely from the uterus, as following childbirth
to have an abnormally heavy flow of blood during a menstrual period
A temporary rise of the water level, as in a river or lake or along a seacoast, resulting in its spilling over and out of its natural or artificial confines onto land that is normally dry. Floods are usually caused by excessive runoff from precipitation or snowmelt, or by coastal storm surges or other tidal phenomena.
◆ Floods are sometimes described according to their statistical occurrence. A fifty-year flood is a flood having a magnitude that is reached in a particular location on average once every fifty years. In any given year there is a two percent statistical chance of the occurrence of a fifty-year flood and a one percent chance of a hundred-year flood.
Flood, flash flood, deluge, freshet, inundation refer to the overflowing of normally dry areas, often after heavy rains. Flood is usually applied to the overflow of a great body of water, as, for example, a river, although it may refer to any water that overflows an area: a flood along the river; a flood in a basement. A flash flood is one that comes so suddenly that no preparation can be made against it; it is usually destructive, but begins almost at once to subside: a flash flood caused by a downpour. Deluge suggests a great downpouring of water, sometimes with destruction: The rain came down in a deluge. Freshet suggests a small, quick overflow such as that caused by heavy rains: a freshet in an abandoned watercourse. Inundation, a literary word, suggests the covering of a great area of land by water: the inundation of thousands of acres.
First recorded before 900; Middle English noun flod, Old English flōd; cognate with Gothic flōdus, Old High German fluot ( German Flut )
A flood is an enormous amount of water. If the street is full of water, it's flooded. Too much of anything can also be called a flood. Whenever it rains and rains and rains, there's the danger of a flood, a type of disaster where water is out of control. Because a flood is so powerful, people use the word when overwhelmed by other things. A top college graduate could be flooded with job offers — that's a good kind of flood. People can also be flooded with emotion. Words with similar meanings are deluge and overflow. Too much — or just a lot — of anything can seem like a flood.
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Elevated high above the flood zone and offering 1,250 feet of direct water frontage the property unfolds with extraordinary scale and privacy.”
From MarketWatch • May 26, 2026
"You can't make blanket rules because not all situations fit in a box. We don't flood ever, and certainly don't in the summer when we run our pop-up camp."
From BBC • May 25, 2026
The interview quickly racked up over 1.1 million views in less than 24 hours and was accompanied by a flood of YouTube comments praising Owens for humanizing addiction and bringing hope to a polarized nation.
From Salon • May 23, 2026
Huge demand, including a flood of orders from individual investors, that sent the stock soaring contributed to the delay.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 23, 2026
If it rained, he’d have to trust his sleeping-sack to keep him dry, and pray that the river spirit didn’t send another flood, because he’d built too close to the water.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
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.
