# drown

Pronunciation: say "DROWN" /dɹaʊn/

## Verb

1. To die from suffocation as a result of being immersed in water or another fluid.
   - Simple: To die under water because you cannot get air to breathe.
   - _Several sailors drowned when the ferry capsized in heavy seas._
   - _Even strong swimmers can drown in cold, rough water._
2. To kill a person or other living thing by suffocating it in water or another liquid.
   - Simple: To kill a person, animal, or plant by covering it with too much water or other liquid.
   - _The storm surge drowned livestock across three coastal counties._
   - _Entomologists would drown specimens in alcohol before pinning them._
3. To overwhelm or inundate, as if submerging the person or thing beneath a flood.
   - Simple: To completely cover or fill someone or something with too much of one thing.
   - _Grief drowned him in the months after the accident._
   - _Fans drown rising stars in attention before their careers can mature._
4. To be flooded or submerged, whether literally under water or figuratively beneath an overwhelming quantity of something.
   - Simple: To be covered with too much water, or to have far more of something than you can handle.
   - _Half the village drowned beneath the reservoir when the dam was completed._
   - _Without extra staff, small clinics drown in insurance paperwork._
5. To obscure something, particularly amid an overwhelming volume of other sounds or items.
   - Simple: To make something hard to hear or notice because there is too much else happening around it.
   - _A burst of applause drowned the comedian's closing line._
   - _On busy shopping sites, sponsored listings drown genuine reviews._

## Origin

From Middle English drownen, of obscure and uncertain origin. It may descend from an Old English form and was probably influenced by Old Norse drukkna ("to drown"), which is related to Icelandic drukkna and Danish drukne, though the exact history remains disputed.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/drown (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).