Library / English Dictionary

DELUGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land

Example:

plains fertilized by annual inundations

Synonyms:

alluvion; deluge; flood; inundation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("deluge" is a kind of...):

geological phenomenon (a natural phenomenon involving the structure or composition of the earth)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "deluge"):

debacle (flooding caused by a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river during the spring or summer)

flash flood; flashflood (a sudden local flood of great volume and short duration)

Noachian deluge; Noah's flood; Noah and the Flood; the Flood ((Biblical) the great deluge that is said in the Book of Genesis to have occurred in the time of Noah; it was brought by God upon the earth because of the wickedness of human beings)

Derivation:

deluge (fill or cover completely, usually with water)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A heavy rain

Synonyms:

cloudburst; deluge; downpour; pelter; soaker; torrent; waterspout

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("deluge" is a kind of...):

rain; rainfall (water falling in drops from vapor condensed in the atmosphere)

Derivation:

deluge (fill or cover completely, usually with water)

deluge (fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An overwhelming number or amount

Example:

a torrent of abuse

Synonyms:

deluge; flood; inundation; torrent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Hypernyms ("deluge" is a kind of...):

batch; deal; flock; good deal; great deal; hatful; heap; lot; mass; mess; mickle; mint; mountain; muckle; passel; peck; pile; plenty; pot; quite a little; raft; sight; slew; spate; stack; tidy sum; wad ((often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent)

Derivation:

deluge (charge someone with too many tasks)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill or cover completely, usually with water

Synonyms:

deluge; inundate; submerge

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "deluge" is one way to...):

flood (cover with liquid, usually water)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sentence example:

The swollen rivers deluge the area with water

Derivation:

deluge (the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land)

deluge (a heavy rain)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Charge someone with too many tasks

Synonyms:

deluge; flood out; overwhelm

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "deluge" is one way to...):

burden; charge; saddle (impose a task upon, assign a responsibility to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody with something

Derivation:

deluge (an overwhelming number or amount)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid

Example:

The images flooded his mind

Synonyms:

deluge; flood; inundate; swamp

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "deluge" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something with something

Derivation:

deluge (a heavy rain)

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