ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Engulf

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /ɪŋˈɡʌlf/ · Part of speech verb

Quick meaning: Engulf is a verb meaning (transitive) To overwhelm.

Meaning

(transitive) To overwhelm.

More Meanings

  1. (transitive) To surround; to cover; to submerge.
  2. (transitive) To cast into a gulf.

Example Sentences

Depression engulfed her after her daughter's death.
Only Noah and his family survived when the Flood engulfed the world.
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.
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.

Word Forms

Synonyms for engulf

Depending on context, synonyms include absorb, plunge, engross, immerse, steep.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include immerse, plunge, absorb, steep, engross, encompass.

Related Dictionary Tools

Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.