drown
Americanverb (used without object)
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to die under water or other liquid of suffocation.
verb (used with object)
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to kill by submerging under water or other liquid.
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to destroy or get rid of by, or as if by, immersion.
He drowned his sorrows in drink.
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to flood or inundate.
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to overwhelm so as to render inaudible, as by a louder sound (often followed byout ).
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to add too much water or liquid to (a drink, food, or the like).
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to slake (lime) by covering with water and letting stand.
verb phrase
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drown in
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to be overwhelmed by.
The company is drowning in bad debts.
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to be covered with or enveloped in.
The old movie star was drowning in mink.
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verb
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to die or kill by immersion in liquid
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(tr) to destroy or get rid of as if by submerging
he drowned his sorrows in drink
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(tr) to drench thoroughly; inundate; flood
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to render (a sound) inaudible by making a loud noise
Other Word Forms
- drowner noun
- half-drowned adjective
- half-drowning adjective
- undrowned adjective
Etymology
Origin of drown
1250–1300; Middle English drounnen, Old English druncnian, perhaps by loss of c between nasals and shift of length from nn to ou
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That can be done as simply as bombarding a drone or rocket with signals that drown out the connection to their operator or satellite guidance.
At least 31 people drowned when an overloaded boat carrying undocumented migrants capsized on New Year's Eve off the coast of Gambia, the government said on Monday, hiking the previous toll.
From Barron's
Moments of good have been drowned out by the brain fades.
From BBC
We mock their bureaucracy while drowning in our own.
From MarketWatch
President Adama Barrow on Friday said The Gambia was in mourning after at least seven people drowned when a boat carrying undocumented migrants capsized off the country's coast.
From Barron's
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.