Library / English Dictionary

FLOOD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large flow

Synonyms:

flood; outpouring; overflow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

flow; stream (the act of flowing or streaming; continuous progression)

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

effusion (flow under pressure)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of flooding; filling to overflowing

Synonyms:

flood; flowage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

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

filling (the act of filling something)

Derivation:

flood (become filled to overflowing)

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

Sense 3

Meaning:

Light that is a source of artificial illumination having a broad beam; used in photography

Synonyms:

flood; flood lamp; floodlight; photoflood

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

light; light source (any device serving as a source of illumination)

Holonyms ("flood" is a part of...):

photographic equipment (equipment used by a photographer)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the following high tide)

Example:

a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune

Synonyms:

flood; flood tide; rising tide

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

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

tide (the periodic rise and fall of the sea level under the gravitational pull of the moon)

Sense 5

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 ("flood" 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 "flood"):

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:

flood (cover with liquid, usually water)

flood (become filled to overflowing)

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

Sense 6

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 ("flood" 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:

flood (supply with an excess of)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with liquid, usually water

Example:

The broken vein had flooded blood in her eyes

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

cover; spread over (form a cover over)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flood"):

flow (cover or swamp with water)

deluge; inundate; submerge (fill or cover completely, usually with water)

drench; swamp (drench or submerge or be drenched or submerged)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Also:

flood out (charge someone with too many tasks)

Derivation:

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Become filled to overflowing

Example:

Our basement flooded during the heavy rains

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

fill; fill up (become full)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

flood (the act of flooding; filling to overflowing)

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

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 "flood" 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

Also:

flood in (arrive in great numbers)

Derivation:

flood (the act of flooding; filling to overflowing)

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

flooding (a technique used in behavior therapy; client is flooded with experiences of a particular kind until becoming either averse to them or numbed to them)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Supply with an excess of

Example:

Glut the country with cheap imports from the Orient

Synonyms:

flood; glut; oversupply

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

furnish; provide; render; supply (give something useful or necessary to)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

flood (an overwhelming number or amount)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The process of flooding fluid through the artery to saturate the surrounding tissue.

(Chemotherapeutic Perfusion, NCI Thesaurus)

The national weather agency for France has put out orange alerts for flooding in large areas of France.

(France's Flooding Rains Examined by NASA’s IMERG, NASA)

A sound, a smell, a word can all flood our minds with memories of past experiences.

(Our brains may ripple before remembering, National Institutes of Health)

Coastal salt marshes provide many benefits — supporting diverse wildlife, helping to reduce pollution, and protecting us from flooding.

(Changing salt marsh conditions send resident microbes into dormancy, NSF)

Ions flow out, but large molecules stay in, causing water to flood into the cell and ultimately burst the cell from osmotic pressure.

(Classical Complement Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

It is said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The flood of fight ebbed down in him, and, releasing his prey, he turned tail and scampered on across the open in inglorious retreat.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Additionally, GOES-R’s improved rainfall estimates will lead to more timely and accurate flood warnings.

(GOES-R heads to orbit, will improve weather forecasting, NOAA)

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found deep, steep-sided canyons on Saturn's moon Titan that are flooded with liquid hydrocarbons.

(Cassini Finds Flooded Canyons on Titan, NASA)

Cells were flooded with excess iron, which overwhelmed iron storage proteins and killed the bacteria.

(New answer to MRSA, other 'superbug' infections: clay minerals?, NSF)