inundate

English

WOTD – 20 May 2008

Etymology

From Latin inundō (“I flood, overflow”), from undō (“I overflow, I wave”), from unda (“wave”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.ən.deɪt/
• (UK, also) IPA^(key): /ˈɪn.ʌn.deɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

inundate (third-person singular simple present inundates, present participle inundating, simple past and past participle inundated)

1. To cover with large amounts of water; to flood.

   The Dutch would sometimes inundate the land to hinder the Spanish army.

2. To overwhelm.

   The agency was inundated with phone calls.

   • 1852, The New Monthly Magazine, page 310:

     I don't know any quarter in England where you get such undeniable mutton—mutton that eats like mutton, instead of the nasty watery, stringy, turnipy stuff, neither mutton nor lamb, that other countries are inundated with.

   • 1972, Carol A. Nemeyer, Scholarly Reprint Publishing in the United States, New York, N.Y.: R. R. Bowker Co., →ISBN, page 8:

     That books are pouring off the world’s presses at unprecedented rates is a fact often alluded to as a flood that is inundating libraries and the book trades.

Synonyms

• (to cover with water): deluge, flood, beflood
• (to overwhelm): deluge, flood, beflood

Related terms

• inundation
• inundator
• undulate

Translations

to cover with large amounts of water

• Bulgarian: заливам (bg) (zalivam), наводнявам (bg) (navodnjavam)
• Catalan: inundar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 淹沒／淹没 (zh) (yānmò)

• Czech: zaplavit
• Dutch: inunderen (nl)
• Finnish: hukuttaa (fi)
• French: inonder (fr)
• Galician: asolagar (gl), alagar (gl), anegar (gl), inundar (gl)
• German: überfluten (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κατακλύζω (kataklúzō)

• Hindi: परिप्लावित (hi) (pariplāvit)
• Ido: inundar (io)
• Italian: inondare (it)
• Maori: whakaparawhenua
• Persian: غرقه کردن (ğarq kardan)
• Polish: zalać (pl)
• Portuguese: inundar (pt)
• Russian: залива́ть (ru) impf (zalivátʹ), зали́ть (ru) pf (zalítʹ), затопля́ть (ru) impf (zatopljátʹ), затопи́ть (ru) pf (zatopítʹ), наводня́ть (ru) impf (navodnjátʹ), наводни́ть (ru) (navodnítʹ)
• Spanish: inundar (es)
• Swedish: översvämma (sv)
• Turkish: sel basmak, su basmak (tr)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: gorlifo (cy)

to overwhelm

• Catalan: inundar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 氾濫／氾滥 (zh) (fànlàn), 泛滥 (zh) (fànlàn)

• Czech: zaplavit
• Finnish: hukuttaa (fi) (transitive), hukkua (fi) (intransitive)
• French: inonder (fr)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κατακλύζω (kataklúzō)

• Irish: plúch
• Italian: inondare (it)
• Ottoman Turkish: بوغمق (boğmak)
• Persian: اشباع کردن (ešbâ' kardan)
• Polish: przytłoczyć
• Portuguese: inundar (pt)
• Russian: зава́ливать (ru) impf (zaválivatʹ), завали́ть (ru) pf (zavalítʹ)
• Spanish: inundar (es)
• Swedish: överväldiga (sv), överhopa (sv), översvämma (sv), tynga ner
• Welsh: gorlifo (cy)

Anagrams

• antidune

Esperanto

Adverb

inundate

1. present adverbial passive participle of inundi

Latin

Verb

inundāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of inundō

Spanish

Verb

inundate

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of inundar combined with te