inundate

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈɪnənˌdeɪt/ UK /ˈɪnʌndeɪt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to flood or overwhelm with a great quantity

The office was inundated with complaints after the price hike.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to flood or overwhelm with... flood deluge swamp overwhelm engulf submerge drown

Opposites

drain dry

Word family

Forms inundated

Derived forms inundationinundatorinundatory

Related forms undulate abundant redundant

Simplified etymology

Inundate entered English in the late 16th century and is derived from Latin unda, “wave.” Unda was formed from the same ancient root as water.

Etymology

From Latin inundatus, past participle of inundare 'to overflow', from in- 'onto' plus undare 'to flow in waves', from unda 'wave'.

inundare Latin unda Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# inundate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈɪnənˌdeɪt/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈɪnʌndeɪt/

## Meanings
1. to flood or overwhelm with a great quantity

## Examples
- The office was inundated with complaints after the price hike.

## Synonyms
- flood
- deluge
- swamp
- overwhelm
- engulf
- submerge
- drown

## Antonyms
- drain
- dry

## Derived Forms
- inundation
- inundator
- inundatory

## Related Forms
- undulate
- abundant
- redundant

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: inundare
- Root: unda

## Etymology
From Latin inundatus, past participle of inundare 'to overflow', from in- 'onto' plus undare 'to flow in waves', from unda 'wave'.

## AI Etymology
inundate comes from Latin inundatus, past participle of inundare 'to overflow', from in- 'onto' plus undare 'to flow in waves', from unda 'wave'. Morphologically, the prefixed shape matters: the initial element belongs to the recorded formation and helps explain the modern form's surface analysis. In present English, the verb sense is "to flood or overwhelm with a great quantity", so the historical development ends in a clearly identifiable modern dictionary use. The same base also appears in related forms such as undulate, abundant, and redundant, and in derivatives such as inundation, inundator, and inundatory. Its semantic neighborhood includes flood, deluge, swamp, and overwhelm, which helps locate the modern sense without adding a separate etymological claim. The named historical forms include Latin inundare and Latin unda.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

markdown