surfeit 1 of 2

surfeit

2 of 2

verb

as in to glut
to fill with food to capacity having surfeited ourselves on raw oysters, we had to decline the rest of the restaurant's offerings

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Synonym Chooser

How is the word surfeit different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of surfeit are cloy, glut, gorge, pall, sate, and satiate. While all these words mean "to fill to repletion," surfeit implies a nauseating repletion.

surfeited themselves with junk food

When could cloy be used to replace surfeit?

While in some cases nearly identical to surfeit, cloy stresses the disgust or boredom resulting from such surfeiting.

sentimental pictures that cloy after a while

In what contexts can glut take the place of surfeit?

While the synonyms glut and surfeit are close in meaning, glut implies excess in feeding or supplying.

a market glutted with diet books

Where would gorge be a reasonable alternative to surfeit?

Although the words gorge and surfeit have much in common, gorge suggests glutting to the point of bursting or choking.

gorged themselves with chocolate

When might pall be a better fit than surfeit?

The synonyms pall and surfeit are sometimes interchangeable, but pall emphasizes the loss of ability to stimulate interest or appetite.

a life of leisure eventually begins to pall

How do satiate and sate relate to one another, in the sense of surfeit?

Both satiate and sate may sometimes imply only complete satisfaction but more often suggest repletion that has destroyed interest or desire.

years of globe-trotting had satiated their interest in travel
readers were sated with sensationalistic stories

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 surfeit
Noun
That seemed like a bit of a coup for Chicago (especially given the surfeit of bad news at the time such as the departure of Caterpillar to Texas and Ken Griffin’s Citadel empire to Miami). The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 15 July 2025 The five-track set contains contributions from behind-the-scenes stateside pop fixtures like Andrew Watt and Justin Tranter, and comes with a surfeit of physical options for purchase — including four vinyl variants and nine CD variants. Andrew Unterberger, Billboard, 2 July 2025
Verb
As a theater critic surfeited with plays, radio dramas worked best for me as an unplanned diversion in my car. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2025 But the younger people making theater now are drawn to it now because they’ve been surfeited with digital culture. Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 17 Mar. 2023 See All Example Sentences for surfeit
Recent Examples of Synonyms for surfeit
Noun
  • Abiy has said the dam will improve access to electricity for the almost half the population who had none as recently as 2022, and export the surplus to the region.
    CNN Money, CNN Money, 9 Sep. 2025
  • There is even a world in which Winnipeg’s best play is to forget about its surplus of veteran defencemen, giving Salomonsson third-pairing minutes as soon as this season.
    Murat Ates, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Thanks to builder strategies, shifting home designs and a new construction glut the trend has flipped.
    Brandon Kochkodin, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • And while May is also a busy month for ESPN and TNT, which in late spring are glutted with live NBA and NHL playoff games, cable as a whole accounted for less than a quarter (24.1%) of all consumption last month.
    Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 20 June 2025
Noun
  • In 1956, long before those flashy rhinestone jumpsuits, the infamous Jungle Room, and all the Vegas excess, Elvis was just a handsome, super-talented guy playing high schools and military bases along the Gulf coast.
    Josh Miller, Southern Living, 14 Sep. 2025
  • Panday plays a convincingly gruff tortured artist alongside Padda’s struggling ingenue, and most of the screen time is devoted to their pairing instead of introducing tertiary excess.
    Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 13 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • People are talking about the storm while the gulls gorge on bread and peck at chicken bones.
    Deborah Levy, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
  • Scheming girlfriends, questionable business partners, a fleet of lawyers and consultants gorging themselves on fees and a whole lot of other jockeying around Sumner Redstone’s fortune and his business empire.
    Cynthia Littleton, Variety, 10 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • Gospel music played on speakers, family members served chicken soup, strangers hugged each other, friends left carrying several plates stuffed with leftover food.
    Amanda Rosa, Miami Herald, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Emily Meyer tries to hide medical bills from her children, stuffing them in her purse or a box under her desk at work.
    Megan Garnai, IndyStar, 10 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • This served Xi’s ego—much more than a Nobel nomination would have sated Trump’s—as well as his geopolitical ambitions.
    Bobby Ghosh, Time, 2 Sep. 2025
  • By the time President Trump announced a 39% tariff on Swiss imports, alarmed by a rapidly increasing U.S. deficit, the gold rush was over, the demand sated.
    Ken Roberts, Forbes.com, 30 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Surfeit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surfeit. Accessed 18 Sep. 2025.

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