inundate

inundate

English

WOTD – 20 May 2008

Etymology

From Latin inundō (“I flood, overflow”), from undō (“I overflow, I wave”), from unda (“wave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.ən.deɪt/
• (UK, also) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.ʌn.deɪt/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Verb

inundate (third-person singular simple present inundates, present participle inundating, simple past and past participle inundated)

1. To cover with large amounts of water; to flood.

   The Dutch would sometimes inundate the land to hinder the Spanish army.

2. To overwhelm.

   The agency was inundated with phone calls.

   • 1852, “The New Monthly Magazine”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 310:

     I don't know any quarter in England where you get such undeniable mutton—mutton that eats like mutton, instead of the nasty watery, stringy, turnipy stuff, neither mutton nor lamb, that other countries are inundated with.

Synonyms

• (to cover with water): deluge, flood, beflood
• (to overwhelm): deluge, flood, beflood

Related terms

• inundation
• inundator
• undulate

Translations

to cover with large amounts of water

Bulgarian: заливам (bg) (zalivam), наводнявам (bg) (navodnjavam) Catalan: inundar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 淹沒／淹没 (zh) (yānmò) Czech: zaplavit Dutch: inunderen (nl) Finnish: hukuttaa (fi) French: inonder (fr) Galician: asolagar (gl), alagar (gl), anegar (gl), inundar (gl) German: überfluten (de) Greek: Ancient: κατακλύζω (kataklúzō) Ido: inundar (io) Italian: inondare (it) Maori: whakaparawhenua Persian: غرقه کردن‎ (ğarq kardan) Polish: zalać (pl) Portuguese: inundar (pt) Russian: залива́ть (ru) impf (zalivátʹ), зали́ть (ru) pf (zalítʹ), затопля́ть (ru) impf (zatopljátʹ), затопи́ть (ru) pf (zatopítʹ), наводня́ть (ru) impf (navodnjátʹ), наводни́ть (ru) (navodnítʹ) Spanish: inundar (es) Swedish: översvämma (sv) Turkish: sel basmak, su basmak (tr) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Welsh: gorlifo (cy)

to overwhelm

Catalan: inundar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 氾濫／氾滥 (zh), 泛滥 (zh) (fànlàn) Czech: zaplavit Finnish: hukuttaa (fi) (transitive), hukkua (fi) (intransitive) French: inonder (fr) Greek: Ancient: κατακλύζω (kataklúzō) Irish: plúch Italian: inondare (it) Persian: اشباع کردن‎ (ešbâ' kardan) Polish: przytłoczyć Portuguese: inundar (pt) Russian: зава́ливать (ru) impf (zaválivatʹ), завали́ть (ru) pf (zavalítʹ) Spanish: inundar (es) Swedish: överväldiga (sv), överhopa, översvämma (sv), tynga ner Welsh: gorlifo (cy)

Anagrams

• antidune

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Esperanto

Adverb

inundate

1. present adverbial passive participle of inundi

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Latin

Verb

inundāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of inundō