inundate

Definition

To cover with large amounts of water; to flood.

Etymology

First attested in 1623; borrowed from Latin inundātus, the perfect passive participle of inundō (“to flood, overflow”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from in- + undō (“to overflow, wave”), from unda (“wave”) + -ō (verb-forming suffix).

Example Sentences

• "The Dutch would sometimes inundate the land to hinder the Spanish army."
• "The agency was inundated with phone calls."
• "I don't know any quarter in England where you get such undeniable mutton—mutton that eats like mutton, instead of the nasty watery, stringy, turnipy stuff, neither mutton nor lamb, that other countries are inundated with."

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