submerge
Americanverb (used with object)
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submerges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
submerged,
past participle, past
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submerging
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
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
-
had submergedperfect
-
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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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
More typically and woefully, our parents submerge it.
From Salon ● Feb. 4, 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
I wanted to submerge my head and drink.
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
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
No stranger to zingers from his years of playing Jack McFarland on “Will & Grace,” Hayes submerges himself in the despair and despondency that were the fuel for Levant’s storied wit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023
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
It submerges her throat and her nose, her open eyes that do not perceive salt.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
A house next door had cracks in its side, and others had wooden decks falling into or submerged in the water.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 11, 2026
Officials had to rescue people in vehicles that were submerged by flood waters.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Thidarat Silsuwan, 56, lives alone in her partially submerged house along the Premprachakorn canal.
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
Olanna picked up a plastic duck and threw it back into the tub, and Baby squealed and submerged it in the water.
From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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
Rescue operations are under way in Uttarkashi district after a gigantic wave of water gushed down the mountains into Dharali village on Tuesday, submerging roads and buildings in its path.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 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
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
