flood

[ fluhd ]

/ flʌd /

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See synonyms for: flood / flooded / flooding on Thesaurus.com

noun

a great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.

any great outpouring or stream: a flood of tears.

the Flood, the universal deluge recorded as having occurred in the days of Noah. Genesis 7.

the rise or flowing in of the tide (opposed to ebb).

a floodlight.

Archaic. a large body of water.

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR flood

8, 9 inundate, deluge.

See synonyms for flood on Thesaurus.com

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Origin of flood

First recorded before 900; Middle English flod (noun), Old English flōd; cognate with Gothic flōdus, Old High German fluot (German Flut )

synonym study for flood

1. 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.

OTHER WORDS FROM flood

flood·a·ble, adjectiveflood·er, nounflood·less, adjectiveflood·like, adjective

o·ver·flood, verbpre·flood, adjectiveun·der·flood, verbun·flood·ed, adjectivewell-flood·ed, adjective

Words nearby flood

flogged, flogger, flogging, flokati, flong, flood, flood basalt, flood control, flooded gum, flooders, floodgate

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use flood in a sentence

As a result, poorer municipalities have less access to preparedness money for storms and floods.
FEMA spends more preparing for terrorism than hurricanes|Rachel Schallom|August 27, 2020|Fortune
When you’ve got a few billion years to work with, it’s very possible that each valley experienced everything from glacial erosion to lava flows to surging floods under silver skies.
Mars may not have been the warm, wet planet we thought it was|Neel Patel|August 7, 2020|MIT Technology Review
The mayor of Imperial Beach, a border city blighted by frequent beach closures due to Tijuana River sewage runoff, says he needs short-term solutions for the floods his residents face while the federal government makes its decision.
Local Groups Pause Tijuana Sewage Lawsuits, But Solutions Are Still Far Off|MacKenzie Elmer|July 8, 2020|Voice of San Diego
With rains and storms, a river flood might have swept the dino’s body out to sea.
Fossil stomach reveals a dinosaur’s last meal|Carolyn Wilke|July 7, 2020|Science News For Students

Too much rain can result in floods that destroy homes and lives.
Let’s learn about rain|Bethany Brookshire|June 17, 2020|Science News For Students
Brazen cherry-picking of the information in this story inspired a flood of “Bush Was Right All Along!”
Political Memes That Absolutely Must Die in 2015|Asawin Suebsaeng|January 1, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Cubans would flood the streets once again ousting the Castro brothers who have now been in power for 55 years.
Cuba Is A Kleptocracy, Not Communist|Romina Ruiz-Goiriena|December 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
God kills every living thing (non-fish, non-Noah category) in a global flood.
Christian Bale: One Man's Moses Is Another Man's Terrorist|Candida Moss, Joel Baden|December 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In our Capitol, Albany lawmakers enjoy a flood of money, personal accounts, and protection for incumbents against attacks.
Hunger Games Comes to New York State’s Public Schools|Zephyr Teachout|November 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
When the family was fine, or when a cruel employee at the dam was behind the flood, God was left out of the explanation.
Why Are Millennials Unfriending Organized Religion?|Vlad Chituc|November 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Various impulses urged him into a pouring flood of words; yet he gave expression to none of them.
The Wave|Algernon Blackwood
And as a flood hath watered the earth; so shall his wrath inherit the nations, that have not sought after him.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
“Flood”—Cleveland vetoed an unprecedented number of bills during his term.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)
It was a rather depressed stock-hand, name of Flood, who blew cigarette smoke out over the brow of Writing-Stone that evening.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Only in the sensational moments of famine, flood or pestilence was a general social effort called forth.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock

British Dictionary definitions for flood (1 of 3)

flood

/ (flʌd) /

noun

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)Related adjective: diluvial

a great outpouring or flowa flood of words

the rising of the tide from low to high water
(as modifier)the flood tide Compare ebb (def. 3)

theatre short for floodlight

archaic a large body of water, as the sea or a river

verb

(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 floodthe children's home was flooded with gifts

(intr) to flow; surgerelief 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

Derived forms of flood

floodable, adjectiveflooder, nounfloodless, adjective

Word Origin for flood

Old English flōd; related to Old Norse flōth, Gothic flōdus, Old High German fluot flood, Greek plōtos navigable; see flow, float

British Dictionary definitions for flood (2 of 3)

Flood¹

/ (flʌd) /

noun

the Flood Old Testament the flood extending over all the earth from which Noah and his family and livestock were saved in the ark. (Genesis 7–8); the Deluge

British Dictionary definitions for flood (3 of 3)

Flood²

/ (flʌd) /

noun

Henry . 1732–91, Anglo-Irish politician: leader of the parliamentary opposition to English rule

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for flood

flood

[ flŭd ]

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

OTHER WORDS FOR flood

Origin of flood

synonym study for flood

OTHER WORDS FROM flood

Words nearby flood

Words related to flood

How to use flood in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for flood (1 of 3)

Derived forms of flood

Word Origin for flood

British Dictionary definitions for flood (2 of 3)

British Dictionary definitions for flood (3 of 3)

Scientific definitions for flood