Synonyms of engulf

engulf

verb

in-ˈgəlf 

as in to flood

to cover with a flood

high waves from the hurricane engulfed large areas of the coastal community

Synonyms & Similar Words

• flood
• overwhelm
• drown
• submerge
• inundate
• gulf
• swamp
• overflow
• deluge
• overcome
• submerse
• flush
• smother
• overrun
• flow
• wet
• stream
• avalanche
• spurt
• drench
• gush
• pour
• soak
• douse
• sluice
• spout

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• drain
• dry
• dehydrate
• parch

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of engulf

Milestones evoking 2007 tend to make investors squeamish, conjuring up unpleasant memories of the financial crisis that engulfed global markets in 2008. — Fred Imbert, CNBC, 22 Sep. 2026

The mines are among thousands of small-scale and informal mines scattered across Sudan, which has been engulfed in a war that has at times pushed parts of the country into famine. — ABC News, 20 Sep. 2026

In 1948 de Kooning was a decade into her relationship with her husband, Willem de Kooning, and at the center of a cyclone of making and talking and looking that engulfed New York artists of the 1930s and 1940s, from Arshile Gorky to Franz Kline. — Jarrett Earnest, The New York Review of Books, 19 Sep. 2026

With the broader region engulfed in conflict and Saudi Arabia distracted, the Houthis made their move against a coastal Yemeni force that has been left exposed. — Mahad D. Darar, The Conversation, 17 Sep. 2026