inundate
Americanverb
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to cover completely with water; overflow; flood; swamp
-
to overwhelm, as if with a flood
to be inundated with requests
Synonym Usage
See flood.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inundatesimple
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inundatessimple
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have inundatedperfect
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has inundatedperfect
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am inundatingprogressive
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are inundatingprogressive
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is inundatingprogressive
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have been inundatingperfect progressive
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has been inundatingperfect progressive
Past
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inundatedsimple
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had inundatedperfect
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was inundatingprogressive
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were inundatingprogressive
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had been inundatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inundate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin inundātus, past participle of inundāre “to flood, overflow,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + und(a) “wave” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To inundate means to quickly fill up or overwhelm, just like a flood. Your bathroom could be inundated with water if the pipes burst, and hopefully your inbox is inundated with nice emails on your birthday. Commonly used to refer to a deluge of water, inundate can also refer to an overflow of something less tangible, like information. Right before the holidays, toy stores are often inundated with eager parents scrambling to get the latest action figures and video games. Attempt to read the entire dictionary in one sitting and you'll inundate your mind with vocabulary. But you probably won't remember any of it tomorrow.
Vocabulary lists containing inundate
List 6
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Fast Food Nation
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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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:
They bring a range of severe weather impacts including destructive winds, torrential flooding rainfall, and storm surges which can inundate coastal areas.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
Worryingly, Jones draws a close analogy with the present-day situation as he expects the deluge of planned IPO issuance this year, in the form of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, to inundate the market completely.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
David Joyce, a Seaport Research Partners media analyst, said part of the reason Tubi has been able to capture audiences—especially young people—is because the platform is easy to use and doesn’t inundate viewers with ads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
“We just kind of inundate her with support, but her son wants his dad back,” said Tucker.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 22, 2025
“Can we not inundate this amazing young woman with our masculine vitriol on her birthday?”
From "Odd One Out" by Nic Stone
“But what we’ve seen with these extreme weather events is so much liquid gets into the well that it completely inundates the system and then the pumps no longer function,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 12, 2023
Some areas of Florida have been hit with flooding as knee-deep water inundates some coastal towns.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
During heavy rain events, the water inundates the island.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 17, 2023
Given that reality, a devastating storm that inundates a large number of structures could force the area to consider where it is safe to rebuild — and where it isn’t.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
The War Office is the most gallant of public bodies; and, with a true appreciation of the daughters of the west, it inundates the land with red-coats.
From Jack Hinton The Guardsman by Charles James Lever
He said the area had been "inundated" with national press.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
“You can’t go to Boyle Heights without being inundated with flies, and the streets are inundated with rats,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
"With the 30th anniversary of Diana's tragic death on the skyline, I've been inundated yet again with requests for interviews about my sister," Spencer said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
In a statement released on Tuesday to mark the new book, Earl Spencer said he had been "inundated yet again" with requests for interviews about his sister, with the 30th anniversary of her death approaching.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
In the aftermath of my article, I was inundated with skeptical e-mails.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
But despite the clips inundating your Instagram feed, your chance of getting bitten is still small—less than one in four million, said Gavin Naylor, director of the University of Florida’s shark-research program.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
As the storm brushed past Hong Kong, steep waves crashed into land, inundating coastal areas, alongside powerful winds and rain, leaving more than 60 people injured.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2025
During those storms, floodwaters surged into the Tulare Lake Basin, submerging roads, breaking through levees and inundating farmlands, where workers rushed to move equipment to high ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2025
Texas has had a particularly bad spate of weather this spring, with heavy rain inundating parts of the state just weeks ago.
From New York Times ● May 28, 2024
Future searches will be difficult: thousands of years ago, the melting glaciers raised the seas, inundating coastal settlements, if they existed.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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.
