flood

[ fluhd ]

/ flʌd /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flood 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. Gen. 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.

Nearby words

floe, floeberg, flog, flokati, flong, flood, flood basalt, flood control, flood insurance, flood lamp, flood plain

Origin of flood

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

SYNONYMS 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.

8, 9 inundate, deluge.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR flood ON THESAURUS.COM

Related forms

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for flood

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
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
A flood of negative ads on both sides damaged both men, but hurt Udall more, simply because he was the incumbent.
A GOP Star Rises in Colorado, Beats Udall|Eleanor Clift|November 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Because the flood of campaign dollars into the state will make Katrina look like a spring shower.
Election Day In The Big Sleazy|Jeff Greenfield|November 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In an instant the torrent had caught them in its whirling eddies, and they were so many separate atoms borne along on the flood.
The Ward of King Canute|Ottilie A. Liljencrantz
A few years ago its signboard modestly chronicled the fact that it had been Rebuilt after the Flood.
Old Country Inns of England|Henry P. Maskell
Like a great wave coming to its flood, the armed host of the Confederacy was moving to break at Gettysburg and recede.
Charles Carleton Coffin|William Elliot Griffis, D. D.
Disaster by tornado is not so easy to avoid as disaster by flood.
The True Story of Our National Calamity of Flood, Fire and Tornado|Logan Marshall
The high tension of our first confrontation was giving place to a flood of emotional impulse.
The Passionate Friends|Herbert George Wells

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

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)

Flood

/ (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)

Flood

/ (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

Science 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.