overwhelm
verb
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Let’s face it: life can get overwhelming. A person might be overwhelmed by a sensory experience or emotion; a city might be overwhelmed by an influx of tourists. Things can underwhelm, too: a bland meal, a bare wall, a lackluster playlist. But how often does an experience just, well, whelm you? The answer, unassumingly, is just as often as one overwhelms you—the two verbs are in fact largely synonymous. Both come from Middle English whelmen, meaning "to overturn," and overwhelm has always been more popular, perhaps because the emphatic redundancy of overwhelm makes it seem more apt for describing reactions to powerful forces or feelings.
Synonyms
Examples of overwhelm in a Sentence
Democrat-Gazette Staff From Wire Reports, arkansasonline.com, 21 Nov. 2024
Lorraine Longhi said her family has been overwhelmed with messages offering support.
—Robert Anglen, The Arizona Republic, 8 Nov. 2024
Several Board of Education members were concerned that Options C and D would overwhelm King Arts.
—Richard Requena, Chicago Tribune, 4 Nov. 2024
One night, the pressures of maintaining that image threatened to overwhelm Greg Sr.
—John Blake, CNN, 3 Nov. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Overwhelm.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/overwhelm. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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overwhelm
verb
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