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• flood
  flood

  noun

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

  noun

  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

flood

American  

[fluhd] / flʌd /

noun

• floods
  plural

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

2. any great outpouring or stream.

   a flood of emotions;

   a flood of requests;

   a flood of patients.

3. the Flood, a universal deluge recorded in the Bible, believed to have occurred in the days of Noah.

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

5. a floodlight.

6. Archaic. a large body of water.

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verb (used with object)

• floods,
  present (3rd person singular)
• flooded,
  past participle,  past
• flooding
  present participle

1. to overflow in or cover with a flood; fill to overflowing.

   Don't flood the bathtub.

2. to cover or fill, as if with a flood.

   The road was flooded with cars.

   Synonyms:

   deluge, inundate

3. to overwhelm with an abundance of something.

   to be flooded with mail.

   Synonyms:

   deluge, inundate

4. Automotive. to supply too much fuel to (the carburetor), so that the engine fails to start.

5. to floodlight.

verb (used without object)

• floods,
  present (3rd person singular)
• flooded,
  past participle,  past
• flooding
  present participle

1. to flow or pour in or as if in a flood.

2. to rise in a flood; overflow.

3. Pathology.

   1. to suffer uterine hemorrhage, especially in connection with childbirth.

   2. to have an excessive menstrual flow.

flood ¹ British  

/ flʌd /

noun

1. 1. the inundation of land that is normally dry through the overflowing of a body of water, esp a river

   2. the state of a river that is at an abnormally high level (esp in the phrase in flood )

2. a great outpouring or flow

   a flood of words

3. 1. the rising of the tide from low to high water

   2. ( as modifier ) Compare ebb

      the flood tide

4. theatre short for floodlight

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

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verb

1. (of water) to inundate or submerge (land) or (of land) to be inundated or submerged

2. to fill or be filled to overflowing, as with a flood

   the children's home was flooded with gifts

3. (intr) to flow; surge

   relief flooded through him

4. 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

5. (intr) to rise to a flood; overflow

6. (intr)

   1. to bleed profusely from the uterus, as following childbirth

   2. to have an abnormally heavy flow of blood during a menstrual period

Flood ² British  

/ flʌd /

noun

1. 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

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Flood ³ British  

/ flʌd /

noun

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

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flood Scientific  

/ flŭd /

1. 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.

2. ◆ 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.

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Synonym Usage

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 Word Forms

Derived Forms

• flooder
  noun
• overflood
  verb
• underflood
  verb
• floodable
  adjective
• floodless
  adjective
• floodlike
  adjective
• preflood
  adjective
• unflooded
  adjective
• well-flooded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• floods
  plural

Participles

• flooding
  present
• flooded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• flood
  simple
• floods
  simple
• have flooded
  perfect
• has flooded
  perfect
• am flooding
  progressive
• are flooding
  progressive
• is flooding
  progressive
• have been flooding
  perfect progressive
• has been flooding
  perfect progressive

Past

• flooded
  simple
• had flooded
  perfect
• was flooding
  progressive
• were flooding
  progressive
• had been flooding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will flood
  simple
• will have flooded
  perfect
• will be flooding
  progressive
• will have been flooding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of flood

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

Explanation

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

flood Flood floods flooded flooding

The Dutch -- with their dikes, dams and vast waterworks--have long been admired for their tenacity in the face of flood risks.

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

A flood of friends, family and followers - including her comedian father Jasper Carrott, former co-star Ricky Gervais and her Office US counterpart Jenna Fischer - left public messages of support.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Bond yields are rising amid a flood of government and corporate supply and alongside sticky inflation.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026

The ticket reseller has been navigating a flood of customers angry about fraudulent tickets and slow refunds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

I drowned in the flood of technical jargon.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

So 19 members of Syston Community Flood Group donned their wellies in the middle of summer and took to Syston Brook to clear an estimated "two or three tonnes" of silt.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Ratner said the branch is a reference to the story in the Torah of Noah sending out a dove during the Great Flood and returning with an olive branch.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

Authorities in Guangxi have maintained the second-highest level for flood-control emergency response, according to the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters.

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

Flood barriers can be effective in local areas, Coffee says, but they tend to displace the problem rather than solving it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026

In what was one of the most unique aspects of the Great Molasses Flood, two individuals who were victims in real danger of losing their own lives also became two of the most heroic rescuers.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler

He is also a survivor of the calamitous 1999 floods.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Latiao were created in Pingjiang in 1998 as an emergency staple food, after devastating floods wiped out the local soybean crop.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

They can detect coming danger like earthquakes or floods because their senses deliver facts: a sound, a smell, the change of the wind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

Flooding is an annual feature of life in Assam, but some years are far worse: the 2004 floods alone affected 12 million people and killed 251.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

My mind floods with a million questions about what is going on, but I know Mustafa doesn’t have the answers, and the look on his face warns me to stay quiet.

From "Amina's Voice" by Hena Khan

Bus operations and household waste collection have also been suspended due to flooded or damaged roads, authorities said.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

At a time when we’re flooded with confusing nutrition advice, this diet consistently stands out.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 16, 2026

Those killed included a man in his 60s or 70s found floating in a flooded road and a 66-year-old woman stuck in her submerged car, the Chiba Prefecture Disaster Management Office said.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

Authoritarian governments have long flooded the internet with propaganda to sway opinion, said Molly Roberts, a University of California San Diego professor who co-wrote the Nature paper.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026

The Tuscan had flooded farther upstream, too, washing out several homes.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

Multiple storms swept through large swathes of East and South East Asia this month, causing widespread flooding and damage to infrastructure.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

Forecasters warned of life-threatening flooding and mudslides, with as much as 25 inches of rain possible at higher elevations.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

The heavy rainfall "will produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain."

From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026

Chinese carmakers are flooding foreign markets because of fierce competition between more than 100 domestic auto brands, overproduction and a sluggish economy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

She put her palms over her mouth as if that was all that would hold back the horrible, groaning, moaning, keening sound flooding out of her.

From "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness

Related Words

• choke
• deluge
• drown
• engulf
• fill
• flow
• overflow
• overwhelm
• rush
• saturate
• swamp
• sweep