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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

overwhelm.

To engulf, surge over and submerge.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˌəʊ.vəˈ(h)wɛlm/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vɚˈ(h)wɛlm/Canada, General-American/ˌo.və(ɹ)ˈhwɛlm/Scotland/ˌoː.vaˈwɛlm/Caribbean

  1. To engulf, surge over and submerge.

    The dinghy was overwhelmed by the great wave.

  2. To overpower, crush.

    In December 1939 the Soviet Union attacked Finland with overwhelming force.

  3. To overpower emotionally.

    He was overwhelmed with guilt.
    Joy overwhelmed her when she realized that she had won a million dollars.

  4. To cause to surround, to cover.

Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷolpós Proto-Germanic *hwalbazder.? Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷólpo- Proto-Germanic *hwalbąder.? Old English hwealf Old English *hwealfnian Old English *hwealmnian? Middle English whelmen Middle English overwhelmen English overwhelm Inherited from Middle English overwhelmen, equivalent to over- + whelm.

noun/ˌəʊ.vəˈ(h)wɛlm/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊ.vɚˈ(h)wɛlm/Canada, General-American/ˌo.və(ɹ)ˈhwɛlm/Scotland/ˌoː.vaˈwɛlm/Caribbean

  1. The state or condition of being overwhelmed.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷolpós Proto-Germanic *hwalbazder.? Proto-Indo-European *kʷelp-der. Proto-Germanic *kʷólpo- Proto-Germanic *hwalbąder.? Old English hwealf Old English *hwealfnian Old English *hwealmnian? Middle English whelmen Middle English overwhelmen English overwhelm Inherited from Middle English overwhelmen, equivalent to over- + whelm.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.