overwhelming

[oh-ver-hwel-ming, -wel-]

adjective

1. that overwhelms; overpowering.

   The temptation to despair may become overwhelming.

2. so great as to render resistance or opposition useless.

   an overwhelming majority.

overwhelming

/ ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ /

adjective

1. overpowering in effect, number, or force

Other Word Forms

• overwhelmingly adverb
• overwhelmingness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of overwhelming¹

First recorded in 1565–75; overwhelm + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Instead, there is an overwhelming emphasis on the individual.

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The overwhelming majority backed the Nicene Creed, which affirmed the full divinity of Jesus, declaring he is “of one substance” and thus equal to God the Father.

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Conventional suffragists initially welcomed her but soon found her personal ambition overwhelming.

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"Our children have experienced frightening, scary, overwhelming, terrifying things. They should be afforded treatment for that," says Fiona Wells from Patch.

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"I thought it was all my fault," admits Daisy who found the grief overwhelming, feeling she had let her friend down, while Georgia struggled with the realisation that even their most promising attempt hadn't succeeded.

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Related Words

• amazing 
• astounding 
• crushing www.thesaurus.com
• devastating 
• mind-boggling 
• staggering 
• stunning 
• vast 

When To Use

What’s the difference between overwhelming and underwhelming?

The over- in overwhelming means “too much” and the under- in underwhelming essentially means “too little,” and the two words can be direct opposites, but they’re usually used in different contexts.The verb 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. Something that’s overwhelming causes you to be overcome in this way. Underwhelm means to fail to impress, especially when that is the expectation. Underwhelming, then, means unimpressive or disappointing.Both words also have other adjective forms: overwhelmed (overcome to the point of not being able to manage) and underwhelmed (unimpressed or disappointed).Things that are overwhelming don’t always involve stress or other negative emotions. A friend’s generosity or the birth of a child can be overwhelming. Still, it’s usually about feeling a lot. In this way, underwhelming can be the opposite of overwhelming in some situations. For example, the same concert may be overwhelming for one person (perhaps it’s the first concert they’ve ever attended) but underwhelming for 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 overwhelming and underwhelming used correctly in the same sentence.Example: It was a bad dining experience—the noise in the restaurant was overwhelming and the food was underwhelming.Want to learn more? Read the breakdown of the difference between overwhelm and underwhelm.