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
-
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
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:
"As the plane began to submerge, we exited the aircraft and swam to a shallow area, where we waited until emergency responders reached us by boat," Tiffany wrote on social media.
From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2026
Regardless of the role, she has to be mentally sharp and completely submerge herself into the character, to the point of invisibility.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 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 island had begun to submerge, but only just, and the boat bobbed in place as the ropes held.
From "The Boy Who Met a Whale" by Nizrana Farook
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 a portion of his sweet potatoes in a jar of water and watches for them to develop growths, also known as slips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
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
It could not be roped off because water submerges it during high tide.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2022
The captain orders the master-at-arms to fire the cannon, but the whale submerges too quickly to be fired upon.
From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman
Officials had to rescue people in vehicles that were submerged by flood waters.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Thidarat Silsuwan, who lives alone in her partially submerged house along the Premprachakorn canal, said she did not want to go to a shelter as she worked to clean up and salvage her belongings.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
Doggerland was a Neolithic landscape off the east coast of England that is now submerged beneath the North Sea.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Wedge regulars constantly joke about getting shish-kabobed on submerged hazards while vying for waves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
The knight is halfway submerged in the bay.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
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
Residents told Spanish media that by the time they received the mobile alert, muddy water was already surrounding their cars, submerging streets and pouring into their homes.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2025
Videos shared online show a giant wave of water gushing through the area, submerging buildings along the path.
From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2025
For the next eight years, as if submerging into quicksand, I sank deeper into debt.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
She rode on, submerging herself deeper in the Dothraki sea.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
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.
