overwhelmed

1 of 2

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

overwhelmed

2 of 2

past tense and past participle of overwhelm

Examples of overwhelmed in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

Perez’s mom has been incredibly touched and honestly overwhelmed by everyone’s generosity. — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026

In the Hugging Face attack, AI agents escaped a testing environment supposedly sealed off from the internet, collaborated using a secret message board and overwhelmed Hugging Face's digital defenses. — Megan Cerullo, CBS News, 28 Sep. 2026

Incessant rainfall caused flooding that overwhelmed drainage capacity in many areas, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said. — ABC News, 27 Sep. 2026

For too long, Washington failed to enforce our immigration laws, and the resulting chaos overwhelmed communities and strained resources nationwide. — Don Bacon, Washington Post, 25 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1