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
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:
"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
"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
If Greenland’s ice continues to melt, rising seas will submerge their homes and farms, like those of the Norse.
From Salon ● Jan. 24, 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
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
"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
There are no Brix monitors to show when it is ready — someone just dips a stick into it and submerges it in cool water, or uses his wet bare hand.
From New York Times ● Jan. 26, 2021
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
Footage of the rescue shows one of the boys sat on the top of the front of the jet ski while the rest of the vehicle is submerged beneath choppy waves.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
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
They lacked the aquatic signatures found on submerged remains.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
Many of the fair’s fifty-seven miles of roadway were still either submerged or coated with mud, and others had been gouged and trenched by vehicles that had used the roads while they were still sodden.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
“The precise mechanisms of holding one’s breath, letting air out, and submerging the body underwater are not visible in the archive,” Ms. Fernando notes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
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
"Lay back, float and that involves submerging your ears and trying to breathe normally," he said.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2025
For the next eight years, as if submerging into quicksand, I sank deeper into debt.
From Salon ● May 11, 2025
Team sport is all about grit and team, about submerging self.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
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.
