drown

[ droun ]

verb (used without object)

1. to die under water or other liquid of suffocation.

verb (used with object)

1. to kill by submerging under water or other liquid.
2. to destroy or get rid of by, or as if by, immersion:

   He drowned his sorrows in drink.

3. to flood or inundate.

   Synonyms: soak, drench, submerge, engulf, deluge

4. to overwhelm so as to render inaudible, as by a louder sound (often followed by out ).
5. to add too much water or liquid to (a drink, food, or the like).
6. to slake (lime) by covering with water and letting stand.

verb phrase

1. 1. to be overwhelmed by:

      The company is drowning in bad debts.

   2. to be covered with or enveloped in:

      The old movie star was drowning in mink.

drown

/ draʊn /

verb

1. to die or kill by immersion in liquid
2. tr to destroy or get rid of as if by submerging

   he drowned his sorrows in drink

3. tr to drench thoroughly; inundate; flood
4. trsometimes foll byout to render (a sound) inaudible by making a loud noise

Derived Forms

• ˈdrowner, noun

Other Words From

• drowner noun
• half-drowned adjective
• half-drowning adjective
• un·drowned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of drown¹

1250–1300; Middle English drounnen, Old English druncnian, perhaps by loss of c between nasals and shift of length from nn to ou

Word History and Origins

Origin of drown¹

C13: probably from Old English druncnian; related to Old Norse drukna to be drowned

Idioms and Phrases

• like a drowned rat

Example Sentences

If they were submerged for longer, the plants might have drowned, Armitage notes.

From Science News For Students

One can imagine the captain of the Titanic insisting on pointing out that 900 people didn’t drown.

From Washington Post

Any student of modern math must know what it feels like to drown in a well of telescoping terminology.

From Nautilus

Nala is Ophelia, Simba’s love, though thankfully she doesn’t go mad from being ignored by him and drown.

From Vox

It could be how I so clearly remember the night I almost drowned.

From Singularity Hub 

It seems like, since we live in the sound bite era, grabby headlines like “EBOLA” and “ISIS” tend to drown out those numbers.

From The Daily Beast

Goldman, wisely, does not raise a raft of questions that drown a writer in the answering.

From The Daily Beast

Watching her drown her sorrows in hooch and then get beat up by Crazy Eyes in the showers was ghastly…but great television.

From The Daily Beast

If prioritizing guns over dead kids makes you angry, stand up and drown his words out with action.

From The Daily Beast

The ice breaks, the Reds drown, the Whites rally to take the Island.

From The Daily Beast

Consequently, I haven't been very bright, though I am gradually coming up to the surface again, for I'm pretty hard to drown!

From Project Gutenberg

He noticed the date on the hotel calendar, and realised that the Fates had another ten days in which to drown him.

From Project Gutenberg

"If you had been Reff you wouldn't have run away and left me to drown," went on Coulter, stubbornly.

From Project Gutenberg

And the noise it makes is something terrific, I assure you—loud enough to drown half-a-dozen pianos.

From Project Gutenberg

She threatened to go beyond sea, to throw herself out of window, to drown herself.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• douse
• drench
• engulf
• flood
• go down
• immerse
• inundate
• sink
• soak
• suffocate
• swamp
• wipe out