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
The corpus of superhero fiction has a surfeit of nasties, dozens upon dozens of antagonists for each of the already multitudinous protagonists. Abraham Josephine Riesman, Vulture, 28 July 2025 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
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
  • Delaware tops the list, where mortgage-free retirees have an annual surplus of $1,764.
    Aliss Higham, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Sep. 2025
  • One tenth of the remaining surplus will be used to form a national cobalt reserve, while the rest, Tshisekedi said, would be handed to small-scale miners.
    semafor.com, semafor.com, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Yet the train of military vehicles that appeared was remarkably tame, a cavalcade of superannuated weapons platforms serving as a reminder of the degree to which the military-industrial complex, glutted with money and pampered by Congress, has run out of new ideas.
    Seth Harp, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
  • Thanks to builder strategies, shifting home designs and a new construction glut the trend has flipped.
    Brandon Kochkodin, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Properly measure your detergent to avoid adding excess which can cause residue, choose one made specifically for whites which help preserve appearance, color, and brighten.
    Cameron Beall, Southern Living, 21 Sep. 2025
  • As author Andy McCullough wrote in his brilliant book on Kershaw, the future Hall of Famer is the last of his kind and views greatness as a burden instead of an invitation to indulge in the excesses of celebrity.
    Wayne G. McDonnell, Forbes.com, 20 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • The cafeteria caved, and students were once again able to gorge on cookies at the bargain price of 25 cents apiece.
    Michael Collins, USA Today, 11 Sep. 2025
  • People are talking about the storm while the gulls gorge on bread and peck at chicken bones.
    Deborah Levy, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Verb
  • It’s stuffed with tissue paper.
    Vogue, Vogue, 25 Sep. 2025
  • OpenAI's first Stargate development to come online — a data center in Texas that's stuffed to the brims with Oracle and Nvidia infrastructure — did so just as investors started questioning the sustainability of the artificial intelligence firm's trajectory.
    Yeo Boon Ping, CNBC, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • To culminate the trip, guests can join another one-day Porsche Ice Driving course before their departure, should their inner petrolhead not yet be sated.
    Duncan Madden, Forbes.com, 16 Sep. 2025
  • 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

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Cite this Entry

“Surfeit.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/surfeit. Accessed 28 Sep. 2025.

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