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

Relief operations were underway, but the scale of need overwhelmed the capabilities of rescuers. —CBS News, 6 Dec. 2025

The two emergency dispatchers on duty were overwhelmed as they were inundated with calls from individuals dealing with an increasingly dire situation. —Rachel Wolf, FOXNews.com, 6 Dec. 2025

Cloud Dancer, a white that is both warm and cool, reflects an overwhelmed feeling among consumers as the world feels louder and technology, in particular AI, encroaches further into our lives. —Anna Kaufman, USA Today, 4 Dec. 2025

Shooting stars appear when shreds of space debris ranging in size from a grain of sand to a small asteroid collide with Earth while travelling at tens of thousands of miles per hour, only to burn up in a fiery naked-eye display as they're overwhelmed by the friction of atmospheric entry. —Anthony Wood, Space.com, 4 Dec. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1