immerse

[ih-murs]

verb (used with object)

immersed, immersing 

1. to plunge into or place under a liquid; dip; sink.

   Synonyms: douse, duck, immerge

2. to involve deeply; absorb.

   She is totally immersed in her law practice.

   Synonyms: engage

3. to baptize by immersion.

4. to embed; bury.

   Antonyms: disinter

immerse

/ ɪˈmɜːs /

verb

1. (often foll by in) to plunge or dip into liquid

2. to involve deeply; engross

   to immerse oneself in a problem

3. to baptize by immersion

Other Word Forms

• immersible adjective
• reimmerse verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of immerse¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin immersus “plunged, sunken into,” past participle of immergere “to dip, plunge, sink into”; immerge

Word History and Origins

Origin of immerse¹

C17: from Latin immergere, from _im- (in) + mergere to dip

Synonym Study

See dip ¹.

Example Sentences

Like its predecessor, “Zootopia 2” impresses visually, especially given the breadth of characters and environments it immerses the audience in.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

What they don’t want is to immerse themselves in phone screens.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

"The Brits is an event I've watched since childhood, and I'm still so immersed in it to this day," he reflected.

Read more on BBC

When that process was completed, the ship was slowly air-dried to remove any remaining moisture that had saturated the wood after having been immersed in seawater for so long.

Read more on Literature

This team will more than likely go to a golf course, put their phone away and immerse themselves in chasing a scratch handicap for four hours.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• baptize 
• bathe 
• bury 
• drench 
• drown 
• saturate 
• soak 
• steep