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overwhelming.

Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.

12 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌəʊvəˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊvɚˈwɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American/ˌoʊvɚˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American

  1. Overpowering, staggering, or irresistibly strong.

  2. Very great or intense.

  3. Extreme.

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 Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English overwhelming From overwhelm + -ing.

noun/ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌəʊvəˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊvɚˈwɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American/ˌoʊvɚˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American

  1. A situation of being overwhelmed.

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 Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English overwhelming From overwhelm + -ing.

verb/ˌəʊvəˈwɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌəʊvəˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Received-Pronunciation/ˌoʊvɚˈwɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American/ˌoʊvɚˈʍɛlmɪŋ/Canada, General-American

  1. present participle and gerund of overwhelm

    form-of · gerund · participle · present
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 Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English overwhelming From overwhelm + -ing.

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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.