Overwhelm
[əʊvə'welm] or [,ovɚ'wɛlm]
Definition
(verb.) charge someone with too many tasks.
(verb.) overcome, as with emotions or perceptual stimuli.
Inputed by Betty--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To cover over completely, as by a great wave; to overflow and bury beneath; to ingulf; hence, figuratively, to immerse and bear down; to overpower; to crush; to bury; to oppress, etc., overpoweringly.
(v. t.) To project or impend over threateningly.
(v. t.) To cause to surround, to cover.
(n.) The act of overwhelming.
Edited by Jessica
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Overflow, spread over and cover.[2]. Subdue, vanquish, conquer, defeat, overpower, OVERTHROW.
Typist: Serena
Definition
v.t. to overspread and crush by something heavy or strong: to flow over and bear down: to overcome.—p.adj. Overwhel′ming crushing with weight &c.: irresistible.—adv. Overwhel′mingly.
Checker: Lola
Examples
- Little did I then expect the calamity that was in a few moments to overwhelm me, and extinguish in horror and despair all fear of ignominy or death. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- Ah, I might have trusted you to find your own way out--don't overwhelm me with the sense of my officiousness! Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- Yet she shuddered with a sense of nausea, a sort of seasickness that always threatened to overwhelm her mind. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- I had expected him, naturally enough under the circumstances, to overwhelm me with questions. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- The Count, at last issuing from his dreadnoughtthreatened to overwhelm her with it as with an avalanche. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Sometimes they overwhelm and submerge and discourage. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- In France--who, knowing me to have been a prisoner in the Bastille, would touch me, except to overwhelm me with embraces, or carry me in triumph. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- My sweet little lady overwhelmed me with dismay; her air of native elegance froze my very marrow. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- We heard without sympathy the protestations with which he tried next to persuade us that the disclosure of the conspiracy had overwhelmed him. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- But they were overwhelmed at last, as was the whole British army by this time. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- The job had overwhelmed him a little. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- He had actually arrived at twelve o'clock, and appeared to be overwhelmed by the unexpected tragedy. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- She was overwhelmed with a sense of a heavenful of riches. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Overwhelmed by the exquisite triumph of having got him back among us, I let him do what he liked with my hands. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- You have been in love, Mr Carriston, and you know how such a passion overwhelms the strongest man. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- With his mind apparently relieved from an overwhelming weight, by having at last got an order for something, the waiter imperceptibly melted away. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- They were sustained by what seemed an overwhelming force of disciplined troops. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- And then Prince took her arm in his and turned with great emotion and respect to his father, whose deportment at that moment was overwhelming. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- I am overwhelming you with money--in my expansive intentions--if you only knew it! Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- Plays and novels have indeed an overwhelming political importance, as the moderns have maintained. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- To him, the wonder of this transit was overwhelming. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- The wind arose; the sea roared; and, as with the mighty shock of an earthquake, it split, and cracked with a tremendous and overwhelming sound. Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
Typed by Katie