flood

FLUD/flʌd/

Pluralfloods

Verbfloods, flooding, flooded

11 meanings of flood

Practice

1
nouncountable
A large amount of water that covers land that is usually dry.
Like water spilling over the top of a full bathtub onto the floor.
The flood destroyed many homes near the river.
After three days of rain, a flood swept through the valley.
Similardeluge, inundation
Oppositedrought
Note
2
verbtransitive or intransitive
To overflow with water, usually after heavy rain.
Like a sink filling up until water runs over the edge.
If it rains all night, the streets flood by morning.
Heavy rain can flood the basement quickly.
Similaroverflow, inundate, submerge, swamp
Note
3
nounfigurativelycountable
A very large number of things arriving so fast that they are hard to handle.
Like trying to catch rain in your hands when it pours down hard.
A flood of emails arrived after the announcement.
The charity received a flood of donations after the storm.
Similardeluge, torrent, avalanche, wave, barrage
Oppositetrickle
4
verbfigurativelytransitive
To give someone or something so much of a thing that they cannot deal with it all.
Like pouring more water into a cup than it can hold.
Readers flooded the newspaper with angry letters.
Don't flood the market with cheap copies.
Similarswamp, inundate, overwhelm, deluge, bombard
5
verbtransitive
To cover or partly fill a space the way rising water would.
Like light spreading into every corner of a dark room.
Sunlight flooded the room when she opened the curtains.
Open the doors and let fresh air flood the hall.
Similarfill, bathe, suffuse
6
noununcountable
The rising of the sea as the tide comes in toward the shore.
Like the sea slowly climbing up the beach as it comes in.
Sailors waited for the flood before steering into the harbor.
On the flood, salt water pushed far up the river.
Oppositeebb
Note
7
nouncountable
A large lamp that shines a wide, bright beam of light.
Like a giant flashlight that lights up a whole field at once.
The crew aimed a flood at the stage before the show.
Someone left the flood on all night above the parking lot.
Similarfloodlight
8
verbtransitive or intransitive
To send so many messages to a chat so fast that no one can talk.
Like shouting the same thing over and over so no one else can be heard.
He kept trying to flood the chat with random words.
Trolls flood the channel whenever an argument starts.
Similarspam
Note
9
nouncountable
Blood that leaves a woman's body during her monthly period.
Her monthly flood arrived heavier than usual that spring.
She rested through the first days of her flood each month.
Similarperiod
10
verbintransitive
To lose blood very heavily, as a woman may after giving birth.
The new mother began to flood soon after the birth.
Without quick help, a woman can flood dangerously.
Similarhemorrhage, bleed

Less common meaning

11
nounobsolete
The sea or other water, thought of as the opposite of dry land.
The ship sailed far out upon the flood, leaving the shore behind.
Who beheld from the safe shore their floating carcasses and broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrown, abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, under amazement of their hideous change.
1667, John Milton, Paradise LostHere, flood means the sea or water, as opposed to dry land.
Note

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of flood apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

It comes from Old English flōd, from an old root meaning "to flow."