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:
In a cruel twist, a phenomenon that can inundate the Eastern U.S. can fuel heat, fire, and drought elsewhere.
From Slate ● Sep. 28, 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
Mr Weston said "prolonged wet weather meant further rain had nowhere to go other than to inundate our ageing and fragile sewer network".
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2025
The only place they did not inundate was the patch of hard earth where the hurdles were and where he now sat with Sandy and Nan.
From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes
Checking air quality and staying indoors when smoke inundates the Seattle area has become second nature during Washington’s wildfire season in recent years.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 4, 2024
The scene switches to a rehearsal, in which Isakovic inundates her with notes on a structured improvisation, demanding “relaxed twitching” and insisting she crawl into the audience.
From New York Times ● Feb. 11, 2024
Some areas of Florida have been hit with flooding as knee-deep water inundates some coastal towns.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
On March 15, brown floodwater inundates a large swath of land.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 22, 2023
When this was done, Fooltown said to herself, "See how Babytown inundates us with her products; we must see to it."
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4 by Hamilton Wright Mabie
Rantzen's daughter Rebecca Wilcox said the family had been inundated with messages since her death.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
As employers are inundated with hundreds of applications, many made with AI or facilitated by it, companies are likewise employing AI tools to screen applicants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
The state’s coastlines have been inundated with high surf for much of the summer, leading to severe erosion at some of the state’s most popular beaches.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
"We are inundated not only with the scale of the flood but also with the lack of resources. This is a natural disaster in the conflict area," said Hein Htet.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
Elsewhere, bridges were being brushed aside and riverside towns inundated.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
The storm triggered widespread flooding across southern France on Tuesday, inundating streets and disrupting transport.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
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
Pamela Bulahan is one of them, and she remember being 9 back in 1972, when one of those earthen barriers failed and water surged toward the town of Isleton, inundating streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2025
In Toshima village, some residents have been sleep-deprived and tired, authorities said, as they urged the media to stop inundating locals with queries.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2025
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
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
