submersion
Americannoun
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the act of putting oneself or another person or thing under water or into some other enveloping medium.
Swimmers in the class are taught submersion and breath holding, floating, and kicking.
This durable tile is specially made to withstand submersion in swimming pools.
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the act of subordinating or suppressing something.
Critics talked about the film’s submersion of individual character within a vision of group solidarity.
Etymology
Origin of submersion
First recorded in 1400–50; from Late Latin submersiōn-, stem of submersiō, also summersiō “a sinking,” from Latin submers(us) “sunk” (past participle of submergere “to dip under, immerse, sink”) + -iō -ion ( def. )
Explanation
Submersion is the act of being completely held under water (or liquid) for a long time. Scuba divers use breathing tanks to maintain submersion during long, deep dives. Words with -merse or -merge come from a Latin verb meaning to dip, soak or plunge. How risky is that plunge? It’s a matter of degree, and you can find that highest degree of risk in the prefix, sub, under. Submersion is often death-defying. The legendary entertainer Harry Houdini thrilled his audiences by undergoing submersion in a 100-gallon milk can! (Don’t try that at home.)
Vocabulary lists containing submersion
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.
Indeed, Titian's twelve-sheet print The Submersion of Pharaoh's Army in the Red tonal vigor and grandeur of notation, is to woodcut what the Sistine Chapel is to fresco.
From Time Magazine Archive
An Experiment in Gold, to prove the non-operating of Figure in Natation and Submersion.
From Discourse on Floating Bodies by Galilei, Galileo
Gentlemen, my Antagonists, we are agreed, that the excess or defect of the Gravity of the Solid, unto the Gravity of the Water, is the true and proper Cause of Natation or Submersion.
From Discourse on Floating Bodies by Galilei, Galileo
Diversity of Figure no Cause of its absolute Natation or Submersion.
From Discourse on Floating Bodies by Galilei, Galileo
It is manifest, also, that one may make Cones and Piramids of any Matter whatsoever, more grave than the water, which being put into the water, with the Apix or Point downwards, rest without Submersion.
From Discourse on Floating Bodies by Galilei, Galileo
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.
