Definition of overflownext
1
as in to flood
to flow over the brim or top of while the wine steward stood there gawking at the nearby celebrity, my expensive champagne was overflowing its glass and pouring onto our table

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3
as in to burst
to be copiously supplied a magazine that usually overflows with home-repair tips for the do-it-yourselfer

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 overflow
Noun
More than 50 people pack the gallery most days, with even more seated in an overflow room. Los Angeles Times, 2 Sep. 2026 Allies packed the board’s meeting room at the school’s downtown Fort Lauderdale campus, with many settling for seating in an overflow room. Rafael Olmeda, Sun Sentinel, 25 Aug. 2026
Verb
Nowadays, the Bemelmans Bar overflows with tourists fresh off the bus and twentysomethings who have pre-screened it on Instagram, and has lost its old, beautiful emptiness, but doubtless the same pull that drew us draws them. Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 7 Sep. 2026 The leak started during the startup and the chemical went into a containment area and then overflowed onto a gravel area. ABC News, 4 Sep. 2026 See All Example Sentences for overflow
Recent Examples of Synonyms for overflow
Noun
  • Technology analysts and traders are not buying the flood of warnings about the dangers of artificial intelligence and the need to slow down development that have recently come from frontier model platforms.
    Tobias Burns, CNBC, 14 Sep. 2026
  • In one scene, the couple turns up the music while the sound of ambulance sirens floods the streets.
    Jourdain Searles, HollywoodReporter, 14 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • Fulton argued the proposition effectively would limit clinics from accumulating surpluses and reserves.
    Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Companies and families worldwide have surpluses of goods or high-quality items for resale in secondary markets.
    Wayne Elsey, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Enthusiasm on Wall Street about the new LLM is high and is spilling over into OpenAI's customers and suppliers, many of which are mutually invested with the company.
    Tobias Burns, CNBC, 8 Sep. 2026
  • The powerful waves from Hurricane Marie battered Long Beach's coastal communities throughout the weekend, with sand and water spilling into streets on Labor Day.
    Matthew Rodriguez, CBS News, 8 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The conflict between these characters is greater than the morality tale engulfing them.
    Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Silverman said firefighters arrived to find the helicopter and several vehicles fully engulfed in flames.
    Thao Nguyen, USA Today, 16 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • The original Defender burst onto the scene in 1983 (though it wouldn’t be called the Defender until 1990), as a modern update to the original Land Rover Series that had debuted in the 1940s.
    Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 17 Sep. 2026
  • Pioneers who created the tech weigh in OpenAI burst onto the mainstream in 2022 following the launch of its artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, and it's ballooned into one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
    Ashley Capoot,David Faber,Kate Rooney, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • Close in, a comet is battered by the torrent of the sun's solar wind, which pushes the comet's material away into a distinctive tail.
    Rahul Rao, Space.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • From wars – a Civil War, even – to presidential assassinations, fires, hurricanes, floods and what seems to be an unrelenting torrent of gun violence, our nation has seen its share of horror.
    Mike Kelly, USA Today, 7 Sep. 2026
Noun
  • The whole thing was essentially an American Cadillac crossed with an Italian coachbuilt exotic, at a time when Detroit was already going completely bonkers with automotive excess.
    New Atlas, New Atlas, 10 Sep. 2026
  • Ancient critics could never quite agree on the direction of causality between Euripides’ formal excesses and the political decay of Athens around him — and Lichtenberg thinks that same ambiguity now surrounds AI.
    Aris Alexander, Fortune, 10 Sep. 2026
Verb
  • Raw shell eggs were overfilled in an insert tray and measured 55 degrees.
    Sacbee.com, Sacbee.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • On the other hand, overfilling the drum can strain the motor and reduce cleaning efficiency.
    Nafeesah Allen, Better Homes & Gardens, 19 July 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Overflow.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/overflow. Accessed 20 Sep. 2026.

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