flood

[ fluhd ]

noun

1. a great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
2. any great outpouring or stream:

   a flood of emotions;

   a flood of requests;

   a flood of patients.

3. the Flood, a universal deluge recorded in the Bible, believed to have occurred in the days of Noah.
4. the rise or flowing in of the tide ( ebb ).
5. a floodlight.
6. Archaic. a large body of water.

verb (used with object)

1. to overflow in or cover with a flood; fill to overflowing:

   Don't flood the bathtub.

2. to cover or fill, as if with a flood:

   The road was flooded with cars.

   Synonyms: deluge, inundate

3. to overwhelm with an abundance of something:

   to be flooded with mail.

   Synonyms: deluge, inundate

4. Automotive. to supply too much fuel to (the carburetor), so that the engine fails to start.
5. to floodlight.

verb (used without object)

1. to flow or pour in or as if in a flood.
2. to rise in a flood; overflow.
3. Pathology.
   1. to suffer uterine hemorrhage, especially in connection with childbirth.
   2. to have an excessive menstrual flow.

flood

¹

/ flʌd /

noun

1. 1. the inundation of land that is normally dry through the overflowing of a body of water, esp a river
   2. the state of a river that is at an abnormally high level (esp in the phrase in flood ) diluvial
2. a great outpouring or flow

   a flood of words

3. 1. the rising of the tide from low to high water
   2. ( as modifier ) Compare ebb

      the flood tide

4. theatre short for floodlight
5. archaic.
   a large body of water, as the sea or a river

verb

1. (of water) to inundate or submerge (land) or (of land) to be inundated or submerged
2. to fill or be filled to overflowing, as with a flood

   the children's home was flooded with gifts

3. intr to flow; surge

   relief flooded through him

4. to supply an excessive quantity of petrol to (a carburettor or petrol engine) or (of a carburettor, etc) to be supplied with such an excess
5. intr to rise to a flood; overflow
6. intr
   1. to bleed profusely from the uterus, as following childbirth
   2. to have an abnormally heavy flow of blood during a menstrual period

Flood

²

/ flʌd /

noun

1. the Flood
   Old Testament the flood extending over all the earth from which Noah and his family and livestock were saved in the ark. (Genesis 7–8); the Deluge

Flood

³

/ flʌd /

noun

1. FloodHenry17321791MAnglo-IrishPOLITICS: politician Henry . 1732–91, Anglo-Irish politician: leader of the parliamentary opposition to English rule

flood

/ flŭd /

1. A temporary rise of the water level, as in a river or lake or along a seacoast, resulting in its spilling over and out of its natural or artificial confines onto land that is normally dry. Floods are usually caused by excessive runoff from precipitation or snowmelt, or by coastal storm surges or other tidal phenomena.
2. ◆ Floods are sometimes described according to their statistical occurrence. A fifty-year flood is a flood having a magnitude that is reached in a particular location on average once every fifty years. In any given year there is a two percent statistical chance of the occurrence of a fifty-year flood and a one percent chance of a hundred-year flood .

Derived Forms

• ˈflooder, noun
• ˈfloodless, adjective
• ˈfloodable, adjective

Other Words From

• flood·a·ble adjective
• flood·er noun
• flood·less adjective
• flood·like adjective
• o·ver·flood verb
• pre·flood adjective
• un·der·flood verb
• un·flood·ed adjective
• well-flood·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of flood¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun flod, Old English flōd; cognate with Gothic flōdus, Old High German fluot ( German Flut )

Word History and Origins

Origin of flood¹

Old English flōd ; related to Old Norse flōth , Gothic flōdus , Old High German fluot flood, Greek plōtos navigable; see flow , float

Synonym Study

Flood, flash flood, deluge, freshet, inundation refer to the overflowing of normally dry areas, often after heavy rains. Flood is usually applied to the overflow of a great body of water, as, for example, a river, although it may refer to any water that overflows an area: a flood along the river; a flood in a basement. A flash flood is one that comes so suddenly that no preparation can be made against it; it is usually destructive, but begins almost at once to subside: a flash flood caused by a downpour. Deluge suggests a great downpouring of water, sometimes with destruction: The rain came down in a deluge. Freshet suggests a small, quick overflow such as that caused by heavy rains: a freshet in an abandoned watercourse. Inundation, a literary word, suggests the covering of a great area of land by water: the inundation of thousands of acres.

Example Sentences

For instance, the FAO predicts that food security in Bangladesh will remain fragile into 2025 because economic constraints have been compounded by floods and a typhoon in September that has affected agricultural production.

From Salon

Climate-driven melting of snow and ice continues to swell many lakes in the Himalayas, increasing the risk of catastrophic flooding in downstream communities, new data show.

From Science Magazine

A primary school has closed after significant flooding inside the building.

From BBC

Sinkholes can be formed by gradual dissolution happening underground, but they can also be caused by heavy rain or surface flooding, construction work, leaking drainage pipes, burst water mains and groundwater abstraction, the BGS said.

From BBC

The deaths occurred on the island of Lemnos where flooding damaged roads and buildings and residents were asked to evacuate their homes, amid fears that a dam could overflow.

From BBC

Related Words

• choke
• deluge
• drown
• engulf
• fill
• flow
• overflow
• overwhelm
• rush
• saturate
• swamp
• sweep