submerge
Americanverb (used with object)
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submerges,
present (3rd person singular)
-
submerged,
past participle, past
-
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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Power Prefix: sub-
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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
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
Storm tides would frequently submerge their spit of land when the weather turned ugly.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
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
It could not be roped off because water submerges it during high tide.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2022
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
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
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
Months of dry weather and prolonged heat have revealed a bridge dating back to the Victorian times that had been submerged during the creation of a reservoir.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 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
The knight is halfway submerged in the bay.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
"Chiedza tried to climb on her cousin's shoulders, submerging her."
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 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
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
For the next eight years, as if submerging into quicksand, I sank deeper into debt.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
And what do I expect to gain from submerging myself in an army of Dauntless traitors?
From "Insurgent" by Veronica Roth
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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.
