inundate
Americanverb
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to cover completely with water; overflow; flood; swamp
-
to overwhelm, as if with a flood
to be inundated with requests
Synonym Usage
See flood.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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inundatesimple
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inundatessimple
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have inundatedperfect
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has inundatedperfect
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am inundatingprogressive
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are inundatingprogressive
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is inundatingprogressive
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have been inundatingperfect progressive
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has been inundatingperfect progressive
Past
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inundatedsimple
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had inundatedperfect
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was inundatingprogressive
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were inundatingprogressive
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had been inundatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of inundate
First recorded in 1615–25; from Latin inundātus, past participle of inundāre “to flood, overflow,” equivalent to in- in- 2 + und(a) “wave” + -ātus -ate 1
Explanation
To inundate means to quickly fill up or overwhelm, just like a flood. Your bathroom could be inundated with water if the pipes burst, and hopefully your inbox is inundated with nice emails on your birthday. Commonly used to refer to a deluge of water, inundate can also refer to an overflow of something less tangible, like information. Right before the holidays, toy stores are often inundated with eager parents scrambling to get the latest action figures and video games. Attempt to read the entire dictionary in one sitting and you'll inundate your mind with vocabulary. But you probably won't remember any of it tomorrow.
Vocabulary lists containing inundate
List 6
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Fast Food Nation
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"What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass
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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:
Raising the dam would inundate habitat along the McCloud.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
They bring a range of severe weather impacts including destructive winds, torrential flooding rainfall, and storm surges which can inundate coastal areas.
From BBC ● May 21, 2026
Worryingly, Jones draws a close analogy with the present-day situation as he expects the deluge of planned IPO issuance this year, in the form of SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI, to inundate the market completely.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 28, 2026
David Joyce, a Seaport Research Partners media analyst, said part of the reason Tubi has been able to capture audiences—especially young people—is because the platform is easy to use and doesn’t inundate viewers with ads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
It took about twenty minutes for the spindrift to inundate my bivvy sack—a thin nylon envelope shaped exactly like a Baggies sandwich bag, only bigger—to the level of the breathing slit.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Some areas of Florida have been hit with flooding as knee-deep water inundates some coastal towns.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2023
Given that reality, a devastating storm that inundates a large number of structures could force the area to consider where it is safe to rebuild — and where it isn’t.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
A second flash flood within two weeks inundates Las Vegas, making 2022 the city’s wettest monsoon season in a decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2022
She inundates her home again in the more engaging and provocative “Léontine Keeps House,” in which the stakes are higher because she’s been left home alone to care for her much-younger sibling and a dog.
From New York Times ● Aug. 19, 2022
Should it happen to be an unusually rainy season, it inundates the great plain which stretches on either side, and converts it into a great lake.
From How I Found Livingstone; travels, adventures, and discoveres in Central Africa, including an account of four months' residence with Dr. Livingstone, by Henry M. Stanley by Henry M. (Henry Morton) Stanley
Rantzen's daughter Rebecca Wilcox said the family had been inundated with messages since her death.
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
CSBC, which has built warships for Taiwan for more than five decades and is building the island’s first submarine, has been inundated with potential collaborators offering drone technology and in need of shipbuilding know-how.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Every time I open TikTok lately, I’m inundated with Kalshi ads beckoning me to bet on “Dancing with the Stars.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
Thousands of Bangkok residents awoke in shelters on Sunday after flooding triggered by days of heavy rain in the Thai capital inundated homes and roads, with some starting to dry out their homes and belongings.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
We’ve been inundated with them, as you can see.”
From "Book Scavenger" by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
The storm triggered widespread flooding across southern France on Tuesday, inundating streets and disrupting transport.
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2026
He’s omnipresent, completely dominating coverage, constantly in front of cameras and inundating us with round-the-clock Truth Social posts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
I kind of designed my content to be able to make it easily because I feel like my approach is just inundating you with Kev.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 20, 2025
In Toshima village, some residents have been sleep-deprived and tired, authorities said, as they urged the media to stop inundating locals with queries.
From BBC ● Jul. 3, 2025
The ancestors of modern speakers of Thai, Lao, and Burmese all moved south from South China and adjacent areas to their present locations within historical times, successively inundating the settled descendants of previous migrations.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
