submerge
Americanverb (used with object)
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submerges,
present (3rd person singular)
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submerged,
past participle, past
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submerging
present participle
verb (used without object)
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submerges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
submerged,
past participle, past
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submerging
present participle
-
to sink or plunge under water or beneath the surface of any enveloping medium.
-
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
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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:
"I've always been a character actor and I like to submerge myself and try to be somebody else, that's part of the challenge," he said.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
First, the Coens submerge us headfirst into the cold netherworld of a Minnesota winter, where criminals hope that a dusting of fresh, frosty powder will cover their tracks.
From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2026
"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
He started to submerge and Grover said, “I can’t breathe underwater! Just thought I’d mention—” Glub!
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
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
That inhibits its ability to sink, slowing the overturning circulation that submerges atmospheric carbon and instead leaving it near the surface, limiting the ocean's ability to absorb more of the greenhouse gas.
From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2023
According to a release, the design includes horizontal striping “that seemingly submerges the ‘S’ crest below the Navy stripe sea.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2022
Torrential floods in southern China have disrupted the lives of almost half a million people, as rising water submerges cars and houses.
From New York Times ● Jun. 23, 2022
I watch as a gargantuan sea monster breaks from the water, gives a squealing cry, and submerges once more.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Those killed included a man in his 60s or 70s found floating in a flooded road and a 66-year-old woman stuck in her submerged car, the Chiba Prefecture Disaster Management Office said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
His team planted fabricated papers naming the targets in a submerged chest in a Czech lake near the German border before “discovering” them in 1964.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
At the same time, submerged cave environments created distinctive chemical and biological marks.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Some passengers were frantically clinging to the hull of the partially submerged vessel, he said, as rescuers administered CPR to a man on a San Francisco police boat.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026
Children are particularly resilient when submerged in cold water.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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
But it quickly caught fire on social media, where users have posted videos of themselves drinking a whole cup or submerging entire burritos in it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 18, 2025
Heavy rainfall in India's financial capital Mumbai has disrupted the lives of millions of people, submerging roads and leading to flight and train cancellations.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2025
For the next eight years, as if submerging into quicksand, I sank deeper into debt.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
Darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees tin they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
