immerse
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
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(often foll by in) to plunge or dip into liquid
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to involve deeply; engross
to immerse oneself in a problem
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to baptize by immersion
Synonym Usage
See dip 1.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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immersesimple
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immersessimple
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have immersedperfect
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has immersedperfect
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am immersingprogressive
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are immersingprogressive
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is immersingprogressive
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have been immersingperfect progressive
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has been immersingperfect progressive
Past
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immersedsimple
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had immersedperfect
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was immersingprogressive
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were immersingprogressive
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had been immersingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of immerse
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin immersus “plunged, sunken into,” past participle of immergere “to dip, plunge, sink into”; see immerge
Explanation
If you immerse yourself in your work, you completely involve yourself in it, spending long hours in the office and thinking about work all the time. Immerse can also mean to submerge in a liquid. A science experiment might tell you to immerse a piece of paper completely in water. If you are a swimmer immersed in a rigorous training regimen, you might be immersing yourself in the pool several times a day.
Vocabulary lists containing immerse
ACT Vocabulary List
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With the Fire on High
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"Speaking Up"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sometimes it really is as simple as putting on the wig or turning on a movie to immerse yourself in an experience beyond your own.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
They now plan to turn the property into a holiday let, where fellow fans can literally immerse themselves in the show.
From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026
A little further in the future, Landers says, employers could shift to virtual-reality headsets to fully immerse job candidates in the simulations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
I like to think it’s because we get to immerse ourselves for hours in the worlds of these characters, who often have grounded stories that make a superhero more like an everyman.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
Any living musicians who did not fully immerse themselves in this system were ‘USELESS’.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
All this she expresses in deceptively simple, occasionally mannered prose that draws readers in and immerses them in her fictional worlds.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2026
But what’s most gripping about this thorough, scholarly survey is that it immerses viewers in the Celtic aesthetic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
"It immerses you in that fantasy," Alia says, describing it as a form of escapism.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2026
Like its predecessor, “Zootopia 2” impresses visually, especially given the breadth of characters and environments it immerses the audience in.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
His father takes his hand and holds him while he immerses him completely in the muddy water and quickly pulls him back up, dripping.
From "The Serpent King" by Jeff Zentner
She immersed herself in the movement to improve driving safety, and now the Hawthorne Democrat is writing controversial legislation that could revolutionize how auto insurance rates are set for many California drivers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
Many great filmmakers are immersed in the same ideas, returning to them in one way or another with each film.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
Until now, however, the same approach had not succeeded with molecules immersed in a superfluid.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 4, 2026
In London, the eclipse will begin at 03:33 BST and deepen until maximum eclipse at 05:12 BST, when around 90% of the Moon will be immersed in Earth's umbra, the darkest part of its shadow.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
What would we feel on its seething self-luminous surface, or immersed in its heart of nuclear fire?
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
There has been no shortage of photos or clips on social media of the Scotland squad immersing themselves in the feel-good factor the Tartan Army have brought to Boston in the last number of days.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
In “I Am Not a Robot,” she amusingly explores “what this world-changing technology actually means for us and our children” by immersing herself in AI for a year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
"We can levitate objects against gravity by immersing them in a sound field called a standing wave."
From Science Daily ● Mar. 22, 2026
Grimes’ self-produced album came from fully immersing herself in the computer around this time.
From Salon ● Nov. 7, 2025
But by immersing themselves in their favorite reading topics, they felt far away from their predicament, as if they had escaped.
From "The Bad Beginning" by Lemony Snicket
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.
