overwhelmed

adjective

over·​whelmed ˌō-vər-ˈ(h)welmd 

1

: overcome by force or numbers

Some jurisdictions are so overwhelmed that they are experimenting with routing school-children into specially designed courts that would keep first-time offenders from being saddled with an arrest record.

—Gary Fields and John R. Emshwiller

Only three Coast Guard rescue helicopters had managed to get into the air, and each was already overwhelmed by dozens of calls for help.

—Christopher Cooper and Robert Block

"We were overwhelmed," said John Robinson, the Rams' coach. "Clearly dominated."

—Paul Zimmerman

2

: completely overcome or overpowered by thought or feeling

When he first appeared in full regalia, I was overwhelmed.

—Jane Davison

Suddenly he felt overwhelmed by a wash of terror.

—Holly Black

He finds that the institutions that might compensate for what overwhelmed parents are unable to do are themselves undermined by stingy public policies.

—Lisbeth B. Schorr

Examples of overwhelmed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While all consumers are feeling the squeeze on their budgets as inflation and tariffs impact everyday products, parents are especially overwhelmed, reports my colleague Madeline Mitchell. —Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 5 Sep. 2025

Parents are terrified, doctors are overwhelmed, and public confidence in our nation’s health leadership has collapsed. —CNN Money, 4 Sep. 2025

Set in 1968 suburbia, Father of Us follows five siblings caught between their magnetic but reckless father and their radiant but overwhelmed mother. —Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 3 Sep. 2025

To overwhelmed oncologists confronting a deluge of literature, this might look like salvation. —Anna Forsythe, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1