engulfed

verb

past tense of engulf
as in flooded
to cover with a flood high waves from the hurricane engulfed large areas of the coastal community

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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 engulfed While the region is engulfed in conflict, the market is showing itself to be immune to the impact of it. — Kathryn Hopkins, Footwear News, 21 Aug. 2026 The wreck of a steam tugboat dating from the early 1900s is the latest relic to emerge from shrinking waters in Serbia as Europe's rivers run dry, with the continent engulfed in prolonged, extreme heat and drought. — CBS News, 20 Aug. 2026 Firefighters struggled to reach people trapped on the upper floors as thick smoke engulfed the building, a police officer told the news agency. — ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026 Zelensky remains dogged by high-level graft investigations, although he has never been named as a suspect even as the probes have engulfed officials close to him. — Hanna Arhirova, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026 But not many in the PCB expect the upcoming three Tests to replicate that success, or even that of the 1996 tour, despite the disorder which has engulfed their hosts since the winter’s Ashes series. — Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026 One person is dead after a fire engulfed a home Tuesday morning in Kansas City’s North Town Fork Creek neighborhood, a fire department spokesman said. — Kansas City Star, 18 Aug. 2026 Officials are investigating after a West Kendall Farm Stores location, known as La Vaquita, became partially engulfed in flames Tuesday morning, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. — Sofia Saric, Miami Herald, 18 Aug. 2026 The trailer was fully engulfed when crews arrived, the sherriff’s office said. — Sara-James Ranta, The Orlando Sentinel, 13 Aug. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for engulfed
  1. flooded
  2. overwhelmed
  3. drowned
  4. submerged
Verb
  • As men, women and children flooded across the border between Morocco and Spain, into the autonomous city of Ceuta at the end of July, European populists and anti-immigrant politicians capitalized on the shocking images of human desperation.
    — Vasco Cotovio, CNN Money, 21 Aug. 2026
  • And now, since Panettiere's death, fans have again flooded Neutrogena's social media.
    — Betty Lin-Fisher, USA Today, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of flooded
Verb
  • The wait times also help ensure that the site doesn’t get overwhelmed by demand.
    — Henry Bushnell, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Abrams was able to return to the song without being overwhelmed by the feelings that came with writing it.
    — Lily Brown, PEOPLE, 21 Aug. 2026
Definition of overwhelmed
Verb
  • Authorities that same year recovered the body of a man who reportedly drowned in 2002, another man who drowned in 1974, and the body of a man who died of as-yet-undetermined causes after disappearing in 1998.
    — Trevor Hughes, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
  • The remains of another drowning victim, Donald Smith, who was believed to have drowned in 1974, were found in October 2022.
    — Mark Osborne, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of drowned
Verb
  • Seventy million barrels is the strict physical minimum needed at the top of the caverns to keep the extraction pipes safely submerged in oil rather than water, said Siddharth Misra, a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M University.
    — Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 15 Aug. 2026
  • Drone footage shared by the city showed houses, vehicles and roads submerged in muddy floodwater.
    — Dalia Faheid, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of submerged

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engulf
engulfed
engulfing
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Cite this Entry

“Engulfed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/engulfed. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on engulfed

Nglish: Translation of engulfed for Spanish Speakers

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