waterlogged
Americanadjective
-
so filled or flooded with water as to be heavy or unmanageable, as a ship.
-
excessively saturated with or as if with water.
waterlogged ground; waterlogged with fatigue.
adjective
-
saturated with water
-
(of a vessel still afloat) having taken in so much water as to be unmanageable
Etymology
Origin of waterlogged
1760–70; water + log 1 (apparently in v. sense “(of water) to accumulate in a ship”) + -ed 2
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.
When soil is damp but not completely waterlogged, nitrogen breakdown may stop midway, producing nitrous oxide instead of harmless nitrogen gas.
From Science Daily • Feb. 22, 2026
"Flooding complicates repairs because the fields are waterlogged and some roads are blocked," Enedis crisis director Herve Champenois said at a press briefing Thursday.
From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026
As the boat became waterlogged, the men were left sitting in frigid water.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026
As well as rice, the team are trialling other crops including lettuce and hybrid willow that grow in waterlogged conditions.
From BBC • Sep. 27, 2025
The water was icy; Harry’s waterlogged clothes billowed around him and weighed him down.
From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling
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.
