flood
/flood/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A large amount of water covering an area that is usually dry: This is the most common meaning, referring to a natural disaster where water overflows onto land.
- A very large number or amount of things that arrive or appear at the same time: Used figuratively to describe an overwhelming quantity of something non-physical.
- The rising tide: The inflow of the tide towards the shore (often contrasted with 'ebb').
Verb:
- To cover or become covered with water, especially in a way that causes damage: When an area is submerged by water.
- To fill or overwhelm with a very large amount of something: To supply or be filled with an excessive quantity, often suddenly.
- To become filled to overflowing: To reach a point of being completely full, often with a liquid.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- The heavy rains caused a severe flood in the coastal town.
- The company received a flood of complaints after the product recall.
- "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune."
Verb:
- The river flooded several streets downtown.
- The market was flooded with cheap imitations.
- Her eyes flooded with tears when she heard the news.
Advanced Usage
- "to be flooded with": To receive or be filled with an overwhelming amount of something.
- The office was flooded with applications for the job.
- "flood back" (phrasal verb): When memories return suddenly and vividly.
- When I visited my old school, memories came flooding back.
- "flood in" (phrasal verb): To arrive in very large numbers or quantities.
- Donations began to flood in after the charity's appeal.
Variants and Related Words
- Flooding (noun): The process or instance of an area being covered with water.
- The flooding caused extensive damage to the infrastructure.
- Floodlight (noun): A large, powerful light used to illuminate a broad area.
- The stadium was lit by bright floodlights.
- Floodgate (noun): A gate built to control water flow; used figuratively to mean a control or restraint.
- The new policy opened the floodgates to innovation.
Synonyms
- Noun: Deluge, inundation, torrent, overflow, surge.
- Verb: Inundate, swamp, deluge, overflow, engulf.
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Flood out: To force someone to leave their home because of a flood.
- Hundreds of families were flooded out of their homes.
- Flood with: To fill or supply with a large amount.
- The announcement flooded the social media channels with comments.
Related Idioms
- Before the Flood: A very long time ago (referencing the Biblical flood).
- That ancient law dates from before the Flood.
- Open the floodgates: To remove a restriction, allowing something to happen in large amounts.
- The court's ruling opened the floodgates for similar lawsuits.
Noun
- the occurrence of incoming water (between a low tide and the following high tide)
- a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune -Shakespeare
- the act of flooding; filling to overflowing
- a large flow
- light that is a source of artificial illumination having a broad beam; used in photography
- an overwhelming number or amount
- a flood of requests
- a torrent of abuse
- the rising of a body of water and its overflowing onto normally dry land
- plains fertilized by annual inundations
Verb
- become filled to overflowing
- Our basement flooded during the heavy rains
- supply with an excess of
- flood the market with tennis shoes
- Glut the country with cheap imports from the Orient
- cover with liquid, usually water
- The swollen river flooded the village
- The broken vein had flooded blood in her eyes
- fill quickly beyond capacity; as with a liquid
- the basement was inundated after the storm
- The images flooded his mind