overflow

B2 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /ˈəʊvəˌfləʊ/ See IPA manual

Freq #21571

Meanings

1

noun
The spillage resultant from overflowing.

High crests of these overflows were: Manhattan, 23.0 feet, 8.0 above bankful, on June 16–17; Wamego, 20.8 feet, 4.8 feet above bankful, on June 17; Topeka, 26.8 feet, 5.8 feet above bankful, on June 17; […].
2

noun
Excess, superabundance

GCN: Do you have an overflow of scripts? JG: I have more than we could ever do, certainly. But there's never an overflow of quality, and quality is really hard to come by, real quality.
3

verb
To flow over the brim of (a container).

The river overflowed the levee into the road.
4

verb
To cover with a liquid, literally or figuratively.

The flash flood overflowed most of the parkland and some homes.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Word family

Derived forms overflowableoverflowerunderflow

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

overflow incontinence
urine leakage that occurs when the bladder becomes excessively full

Noun + noun

Etymology

From Middle English overflowen, from Old English oferflōwan, equivalent to over- + flow.

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# overflow

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** /ˈəʊvəˌfləʊ/
**Frequency rank:** 21571

## Meanings
1. The spillage resultant from overflowing.
2. Excess, superabundance
3. To flow over the brim of (a container).
4. To cover with a liquid, literally or figuratively.

## Examples
- High crests of these overflows were: Manhattan, 23.0 feet, 8.0 above bankful, on June 16–17; Wamego, 20.8 feet, 4.8 feet above bankful, on June 17; Topeka, 26.8 feet, 5.8 feet above bankful, on June 17; […].
- GCN: Do you have an overflow of scripts? JG: I have more than we could ever do, certainly. But there's never an overflow of quality, and quality is really hard to come by, real quality.
- The river overflowed the levee into the road.
- The flash flood overflowed most of the parkland and some homes.

## Derived Forms
- overflowable
- overflower
- underflow

## Roots and Affixes
- Affix: over- - too much

## Etymology
From Middle English overflowen, from Old English oferflōwan, equivalent to over- + flow.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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