overwhelm
Americanverb (used with object)
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overwhelms,
present (3rd person singular)
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overwhelmed,
past participle, past
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overwhelming
present participle
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to overcome completely in mind or feeling.
overwhelmed by remorse.
-
to overpower or overcome, especially with superior forces; destroy; crush.
Roman troops were overwhelmed by barbarians.
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to cover or bury beneath a mass of something, as floodwaters, debris, or an avalanche; submerge.
Lava from erupting Vesuvius overwhelmed the city of Pompeii.
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to load, heap, treat, or address with an overpowering or excessive amount of anything.
a child overwhelmed with presents; to overwhelm someone with questions.
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to overthrow.
verb
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to overpower the thoughts, emotions, or senses of
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to overcome with irresistible force
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to overcome, as with a profusion or concentration of something
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to cover over or bury completely
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to weigh or rest upon overpoweringly
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archaic to overturn
Usage
What’s the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm? The over- in overwhelm means “too much” and the under- in underwhelm essentially means “too little,” and the two words can be direct opposites, but they’re usually used in different contexts. Overwhelm most commonly means to cause to be overcome with emotion as a result of an amount of something (work, stress, etc.) that’s just too much to handle. (It can also mean to overpower or physically cover beneath a mass of something). Underwhelm means to fail to impress, especially when that is the expectation. Both words are often used in adjective forms: overwhelmed (overcome to the point of not being able to manage), overwhelming (describing something that leads to feeling overwhelmed), underwhelmed (unimpressed or disappointed), and underwhelming (unimpressive or disappointing). Being overwhelmed isn’t always about stress or other negative emotions. You could be overwhelmed by a friend’s generosity or the birth of a child. Still, it’s usually about feeling a lot. In this way, underwhelm can be the opposite of overwhelm in some situations. For example, the same concert may overwhelm one person (perhaps it’s the first concert they’ve ever attended) but underwhelm someone else (maybe because it doesn’t meet their high expectations). And, yes, whelm is a word. It can mean the same thing as overwhelm, but it’s very rarely used. Here’s an example of overwhelm and underwhelm used correctly in the same sentence. Example: I never want to underwhelm the fans, and sometimes that pressure can overwhelm me, but it all goes away when I walk on stage. Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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overwhelmsimple
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overwhelmssimple
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have overwhelmedperfect
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has overwhelmedperfect
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am overwhelmingprogressive
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are overwhelmingprogressive
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is overwhelmingprogressive
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have been overwhelmingperfect progressive
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has been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Past
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overwhelmedsimple
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had overwhelmedperfect
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was overwhelmingprogressive
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were overwhelmingprogressive
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had been overwhelmingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of overwhelm
A Middle English word dating back to 1300–50; see origin at over-, whelm
Explanation
Overwhelm means “give a person too much of something.” If your friend agrees to feed your pet fish while you’re on vacation, don’t overwhelm her with requests by also asking her to do your laundry and wash the dishes. While it’s easy to be overwhelmed by chores or complaints, it’s also possible to be overwhelmed by good things — if they occur in large quantities. You might enjoy a stack of pancakes for breakfast, but you'd probably find a truckload of pancakes overwhelming. Sometimes people feel overwhelmed by emotion, and this can be a positive or negative experience, depending on the emotion. For example, you might feel overwhelmed by gratitude if your friend takes excellent care of your fish, but overwhelmed with grief if the fish is accidentally flushed in your absence.
Vocabulary lists containing overwhelm
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Anti-Antonyms: Words Without Opposites
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List 7
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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:
While it remains to be seen whether the repurchase plan can bolster confidence in the sector over a longer stretch, there are broader forces at work in markets right now that may overwhelm stock-specific ones.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 19, 2026
More locals are willing to accept development, as long as it doesn’t overwhelm the quaintness of the city, apartment developer Tourtellote said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
But they also come with high risks that could overwhelm smaller investors, and many are opaque and complex.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
"They are objective-driven, set their own sub-goals, adapt in real time to bypass defences, and operate with a machine-speed persistence that can overwhelm manual operations," the paper reads.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
My strategy was to overwhelm the prison authorities and the courts with legitimate requests, which I knew they would have a difficult time satisfying.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Determining this requires finding the point at which the domestically borne share of distortions becomes so large that it overwhelms the tariff revenue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Even here in the relative safety of Annapolis, Maryland, an advancing armada of amped-up college kids overwhelms me.
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
“The unexpected overwhelms you,” said McDonnel, who said her obligations for her parents vary daily and weekly.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
A successful Kurdish offensive could also "enable a spreading of discontent" that overwhelms the Islamic republic, said Ritondale, now chief intelligence officer at Artorias, a global risk intelligence provider.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
While he talks, von Rumpel struggles to keep his balance; the intermingling of so many odors in this shop overwhelms.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
"In our study, pesticides began to accumulate in queens over time, suggesting that worker filtration capacity can be overwhelmed," Encerrado-Manriquez said.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 22, 2026
Pakistan were at risk of being overwhelmed when Duckett and Gay made a Bazball-style start to England's reply.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
By 2015, however, crippling anxiety and loss of control left him so overwhelmed that he carried a water bottle everywhere, terrified that he might choke on his own saliva.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
Readers may at times feel overwhelmed by Mr. Hoffman’s research, including pages of statistics and a tone that can at times be didactic or hectoring due to the urgency of his environmental case.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
It’s just that, sometimes, I feel overwhelmed by all the work Tūtū and I have to do.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
A goat herder from a remote area of western Kenya has told the BBC his discovery of a golden nugget has sparked a gold rush, overwhelming his small village over the last few weeks.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
As the Atlantic reported this week, the “pushback was so overwhelming, so obviously coordinated, so ugly and personal that it became a story.”
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
While Chinese visitors made up an overwhelming majority of the attendees, there were more people from abroad than before, said investor Kang.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
Three weeks ago, more than 72,000 migrants poured into Ceuta, overwhelming authorities and causing many residents to close up their shops and stay inside their homes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
On an ordinary day I’d have loved to look around, but this time I found the chaos overwhelming and was glad when we found our next tro-tro.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
