submerge
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to sink or plunge under water or beneath the surface of any enveloping medium.
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to be covered or lost from sight.
verb
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to plunge, sink, or dive or cause to plunge, sink, or dive below the surface of water, etc
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(tr) to cover with water or some other liquid
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(tr) to hide; suppress
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(tr) to overwhelm, as with work, difficulties, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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submergesimple
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submergessimple
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have submergedperfect
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has submergedperfect
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am submergingprogressive
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are submergingprogressive
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is submergingprogressive
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have been submergingperfect progressive
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has been submergingperfect progressive
Past
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submergedsimple
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had submergedperfect
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was submergingprogressive
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were submergingprogressive
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had been submergingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of submerge
First recorded in 1600–10; from Latin submergere, equivalent to sub- sub- + mergere “to dip, immerse”; see merge
Explanation
When you go swimming, you submerge your body in water. If your head is out of the water, it is not submerged — it's just wet. To really soak a washcloth, you should submerge it in a basin of water. It is said that the word submerge was invented by William Shakespeare. We don't know that for sure, but we know that its appearance in the play Antony and Cleopatra is the first recorded time the word was written, and therefore read, by anyone.
Vocabulary lists containing submerge
A Recipe for Success: Thanksgiving Cooking Words
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Power Prefix: sub-
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"Rogue Wave," Vocabulary from the short story
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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:
Now that “Barrio Triste” is being unleashed, after it premiered at the Venice International Film Festival last year, Stillz wants to submerge himself in its synths more than its pixels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
Listen to Yamaha: A swirling 80s funk groove allows Dijon to submerge himself in the bliss of enduring love.
From BBC ● Dec. 20, 2025
"But they are really flat yet prone to human-caused subsidence, so sustained sea level rise could submerge them really fast."
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2025
The implication of Zandi’s research is that the national economy would submerge under the waves if either of these two gigantic state economies were to falter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 11, 2025
When I first submerge my feet in the frigid water, they hurt so badly I yank them out again.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
But at night this thoughtful tenant farmer’s daughter sits in the servants’ hall and submerges herself in serious study.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
He submerges his full body into the frigid bubbling water for three chilly minutes, climbs out and hops into the warm whirlpool tub next to it for three minutes.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 20, 2023
"A Very British Scandal" exists to illustrate the double standard society applies to men and women in measuring individual culpability, although the Argylls' tenacious rancor submerges that point too often.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2022
Throughout, Estrada submerges herself in misery, often leaving the listener bereft.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2022
It submerges her throat and her nose, her open eyes that do not perceive salt.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
More disappointing is watching a role held aloft by Witherspoon’s charisma and unsinkable pep be submerged in attitudinal gloom despite Minetree’s best efforts.
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026
When he opened his eyes, he saw a once-familiar shoreline changing in real time, with swathes of previously submerged coral suddenly pushing above the waterline.
From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026
A frothy white water splash suggests the presence — and momentary absence — of the swimmer now submerged in cool water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Most of the islands are, as Antelope was until this year, submerged reefs which in the past had no human settlements.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
But then a pre-raising inspection of the sunken vessel revealed that most of the nails in the planks inside the ship had corroded during the more than four hundred years it had been submerged.
From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler
"Chiedza tried to climb on her cousin's shoulders, submerging her."
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
In 2022, a 30-metre-high garbage heap at a landfill in West Java's Cipayung triggered a landslide that entered a river, submerging a bridge to the neighbouring village.
From Barron's ● Feb. 17, 2026
Certain actions, such as submerging the ball in water or exposing it to high heat, are prohibited.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2025
For the next eight years, as if submerging into quicksand, I sank deeper into debt.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
Suddenly Jason's feet fell through, his head submerging.
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
