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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

engulf en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • (Southern-England) audio
  • /ɪŋˈɡʌlf/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁én Proto-Italic *en Proto-Italic *en- Latin in- Old French en-bor. Middle English en- English en- English gulf English engulf From en- + gulf.

Meanings

  1. (transitive) To overwhelm.
    • Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.
    • Shaken by the biggest challenge to their authority in years, Brazil’s leaders made conciliatory gestures on Tuesday to try to defuse the protests engulfing the nation’s cities. 2013 June 18, Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, in New York Times, retrieved 21 Jun 2013:
    • The blank spaces of Mallarmé, the silence of Maesterlinck, the inaniloquous repetitive babblings of Gertrude Stein are the abyss which threatens to engulf creative effort if it continues in this direction. 1934, The Modern Monthly, volume 8, page 308:
  2. (transitive) To surround; to cover; to submerge.
    • Only Noah and his family survived when the Flood engulfed the world.
  3. (transitive) To cast into a gulf.

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
engulfs Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
engulfing Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
engulfed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
engulfed Tense=Past lexicographic

Deriveds

engulfment · engulfable · unengulfed · engulfer

Synonyms

swallow

Translations (44)

es tragar (overwhelm) · fi vallata (overwhelm) · nl overweldigen (overwhelm) · it travolgere (overwhelm) · nl bedekken (surround; cover) · ru поглоща́ть (surround; cover) · it sommergere (surround; cover) · nl omringen (surround; cover) · pt cobrir (surround; cover) · bg обхващам (overwhelm) · bg поглъщам (surround; cover) · mhr аваш (surround; cover) · eo engluti (surround; cover) · es engolfar (overwhelm) · fr engloutir (surround; cover) · hy համակել (overwhelm) · es engullir (overwhelm) · pt engolfar (overwhelm) · ru охва́тывать (overwhelm) · fr engouffrer (surround; cover) · fr submerger (overwhelm) · fi nielaista (surround; cover) · ru залива́ть (surround; cover) · hy կուլ տալ (surround; cover) · th ท่วม (surround; cover) · it sopraffare (overwhelm) · cmn 淹沒 /淹没 (surround; cover) · de überwältigen (overwhelm) · es sumergir (surround; cover) · es sepultar (overwhelm) · fi peittää (surround; cover) · ru засыпа́ть (surround; cover) · tr kaplamak (surround; cover) · hy կլանել (surround; cover) · es sumirse en (overwhelm) · es cubrir (surround; cover) · mi roromi (overwhelm) · th ปกคลุม (surround; cover) · it circondare (surround; cover) · de verschlingen (surround; cover) · es envolver (overwhelm) · pt engolir (overwhelm) · cmn 吞沒 /吞没 (overwhelm) · mi romi (overwhelm)