flooding

verb

present participle of flood
as in engulfing
to cover with a flood the lowlands were completely flooded angry calls flooded the radio station

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of flooding Cincinnati and Charleston are included in a more serious Level 3 of 4 threat of flooding rainfall Tuesday that stretches from eastern Indiana to central West Virginia. — Briana Waxman, CNN Money, 10 Aug. 2026 There is a reason why the super PACs and the billionaires are flooding Minnesota with all kinds of money. — CBS News, 9 Aug. 2026 The Bills held their return of the Red and Blue practice at Highmark on Saturday, and posts on social media started flooding in, racking up millions of views and engagements, showing the frankly inexcusable views from some seats at the new stadium. — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026 Water starts rapidly flooding the house, with a creature swimming through, clearly adept at moving underwater as had been predicted. — William Earl, Variety, 8 Aug. 2026 With hundreds of thousands of women’s fragrances flooding the market (and that’s putting it mildly) finding your signature scent or building out a fragrance wardrobe can quickly lead to sensory overload. — Kiana Murden, Vogue, 7 Aug. 2026 Despite the copious downpour that led to flooding across many parts of the country in the past few weeks, India still faces the prospect of a deficient monsoon this year. — Priyanka Salve, CNBC, 5 Aug. 2026 Digg shut down its Reddit competitor in March, citing an inability to control the volume of bots flooding the site. — Gabriel Alin Zainescu, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026 Heavy rains earlier this week swamped other areas of New York as well as New Jersey and Pennsylvania, flooding streets and leading to water rescues. — ABC News, 30 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flooding
  1. engulfing
  2. drowning
  3. overwhelming
  4. submerging
  5. inundating
Verb
  • Chopper 2 The fire grew to three alarms, engulfing the entire building and eventually causing the steeple to collapse.
    — Adi Guajardo, CBS News, 5 Aug. 2026
  • Video shows thick black smoke engulfing the Mutiara Sentosa 2 as panicked passengers crowd the decks, some leaping overboard to escape the flames.
    — Trisnadi, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2026
Definition of engulfing
Verb
  • If the work is technical and rigorous, make that clear without drowning it in jargon.
    — Marsha Murray, Forbes.com, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Their jobs require endurance and discipline, as they not only rescue swimmers who are drowning.
    — Lois K. Solomon, Sun Sentinel, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of drowning
Verb
  • Rather than overwhelming your child with a long list of feelings, start with the basics.
    — Jenna Autuori-Dedic, Parents, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Could Cape Verde turn its sudden global fame into tourism that benefits the islands without overwhelming the places already under pressure?
    — Emese Maczko, Forbes.com, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of overwhelming
Verb
  • The barge ran over the sailboat, submerging it beneath the barge’s hull.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
  • This new hybrid approach uses a dual-action mechanism to cool the battery pack without fully submerging it.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 15 July 2026
Definition of submerging
Verb
  • Like many other large cities, much of Los Angeles’ vast network of water mains and trunk lines were installed at the turn of the 20th century and are at risk of breaking, disrupting service and potentially inundating communities with water.
    — Hannah Fry, Los Angeles Times, 25 July 2026
  • Lettuce is causing explosive diarrhea, wildfire smoke is inundating city skies and parts of the country are scorching under brutal hot temperatures.
    — Melina Khan, USA Today, 17 July 2026
Definition of inundating

Browse Nearby Words

floodgates
flooding
floodlight
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Flooding.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flooding. Accessed 11 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on flooding

Nglish: Translation of flooding for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

Is that lie 'bald-faced' or 'bold-faced'?

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Aug. 7

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
fridge-magnet-letters
Drop a Letter Quiz August 2026 Drop a letter from a word to make a totally diffe...
See All